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In late October 2022, Angela Houle competed against five other women to earn the top spot at the Strongman Corporation of Canada's National Championship. She competed in an axle press, a circus dumbbell and sandbag carry, and other events. But that wasn't all. This competitor from Whitefish Lake First Nation #128 was also awarded her pro card status in the sport-the first Indigenous woman to be awarded with the honor. Having a pro card means a person is considered a profession...
GLENDALE, Ariz.—The dirt moves before the crowd stirs. A low tremor rolls beneath the chutes as a 1,500-pound bull slams its shoulder into steel, dust lifting in thin sheets under the desert lights. Cowboys lean quietly along the arena rails. Leather creaks. Rosin snaps. One rider bows his head in prayer. Another tests the flex in his glove. Eight seconds at a time, a sport once rooted in ranch work now unfolds beneath LED scoreboards, national TV cameras and sold-out c...
PHOENIX, Ariz.—Hosava Kretzmann, from the Hotevilla village on the Hopi Reservation, is the first Native American runner to qualify for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials. Kretzmann, a citizen of the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation, ran a personal best 2:15:50 at The Marathon Project in December 2025, finishing more than three minutes faster than his previous best and under the qualifying standard. This will allow him to join an elite group of distance runners nationwide and places him to become one of a growing number of I...
LONGMONT, Colo.-In November 2025, the First Nations' Native Agriculture and Food Systems Investments program sponsored the first-ever Young Women's Buffalo Harvest at the DuBray Buffalo Ranch in Mobridge, S.D. The event brought together 15 young women, ages 17 to 28, of various tribal nations and experience levels. Attendees represented a wide range of educational paths, from high school students to those completing master's degrees. For some, it was their first experience in...
Ada, Okla.-Katie Kelley is a storyteller, but instead of words she uses movement. There are many things that Kelley loves about ballet, but her favorite is the chance to portray a character and connect with an audience through dance. While ballet showcases the grace and physicality of the dancers, ultimately, when done right, it is about telling a story. Kelley started dancing at age four. Like most children, she started with the combo classes where she would get to try a bit...
Winnipeg, Man.-Métis athlete Luke Enns has now competed in the Canada Games three times. The 19-year-old from Winnipeg won two medals in kayak at the 2022 Games and competed in biathlon at the 2023 Games, and was chosen as Team Manitoba's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony in the 2025 Canada Games, taking a silver medal in Men's 200m Kayaking. And that's not all. Enns has represented Canada at the international level at the 2024 Sprint Canoe Junior World Championships and...
LAWTON, Okla.-Comanche member Brindle Meador may only be seven years old, but already, she's showing a compassion and determination. Recently she came up with a goal to collect 1000 items for the Tulsa St. Francis Hospital children's toy room. She got to work and gathered a total of 1,185 items to help the sick kids. Brindle's motivation was to honor her eight-year-old friend she lost to cancer, and her two-day-old brother who passed away two years ago....
ADA, Okla.—Running track and cross-country takes grit, determination, endurance and perseverance-all characteristics of the Chickasaw people. Two Chickasaw runners worked hard in high school to excel at the sport and now are racing to the next goal: college. Last spring, twins Jessie and Mallory Foster-Anderson signed letters of intent to run track and cross-country at Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma City. Their scholarship offers are the result of seven years of ha...
FAYETTESVILLE, Ark.—Claire Walker is a Cherokee college student who cares about her Native community so much that she is on her way to receiving well-earned awards. Accordingly, she was recently announced as the Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Scholar for her commitment to tribal healthcare, as well as demonstrated leadership connected to this issue on campus and in her community. An honors student from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, she is majoring in biochemistry and biology at t...
DURHAM, N.C.-Ava Grace Cummings, a member of the Lumbee and Coharie tribes in North Carolina, recently placed second in the national 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search. The 18-year-old high school senior's prize-winning project was researching Native American myopathy, also known as the muscle disorder stac3. Cummings told WTVD reporters in Raleigh, N.C. that the subject was near to her heart. She said her goal was, "Just bringing more resources and more advocacy and more...
ADA, OKla.-Aydenyden Elcyzyn, a standout high school football player from Newcastle, Oklahoma, recently participated in the Native American All-Star Game at the Dallas Cowboys practice stadium, The Star. The prestigious game showcased top First American athletes' talents from across the country. The event was hosted by the Native American Athletic Foundation (NAAF) in partnership with Nike and the National Football League (NFL). Although athletic ability played a strong role...
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.-Raised in Lapwai, Idaho, and a proud member of the Nez Perce Tribal Nation, Xavier Guillory comes from a family full of Native American athletes, which made the Arizona State wide receiver the ideal person to address about a hundred children from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community at the Fiesta Bowl Legacy Youth Football Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. Guillory's grandfather played for the University of Idaho, and his father, who played safety at...
Chikasha Bak Bak (Chickasaw Woodpecker) is one of seven teams currently playing in the Choctaw Nation's Stickball League. With a similar culture and intertwined histories, the Choctaw Nation invited Chickasaws to participate in their league in 2014. Numerous Southeastern First American tribes of North America are working to preserve the heritage of this traditional game. "Stickball is shared amongst Southeastern tribes. It brings different First Nation communities together,"...
WASHINGTON—The first skateboard Di'Orr Greenwood ever rode was a cheap plastic one her grandpa had given to her younger brother. "He had so much fun on it that I wanted a little bit of that fun, too," she said. When she was 22, an arson fire left the family home in ashes. They lost almost everything. But Greenwood found some old skateboards unscathed by the fire, and a tool for wood burning that her late uncle had taught her to use. She began carving Navajo designs on s...
DENVER—A cancer survivor is preparing to compete in the 2024 Miss Colorado pageant in July and aims to bring a bit of hope for the future to others touched by the disease. Abby Dennis, 24, will compete for the state title July 13-14 in Lakewood, Colorado, as Miss Vail. One of her goals is to bring awareness to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and offer hope to survivors through her community service initiative, "Hope Child." "My aim with this initiative is to make the conversation a...
EAGLE BUTTE, S.D-In late March, Lakota youth aged 12-18 gathered at the Cheyenne River Youth Project's Čhokáta Wičhóni (Center of Life) teen center for the nonprofit organization's 24th annual Passion for Fashion event. Called Wačhípí kta Iglúwiŋyeyapi (Youth Get Ready for the Dance) in Lakota, Passion for Fashion helps young women prepare for their high school prom in a positive and safe space. As they search for formalwear and accessories, they also have opportun...
ADA, Okla.-In many ways, 16-year-old Tony Carter is just like his Ardmore, Okla. High School classmates. He loves to attend sporting events and rodeos with his family and sit under a shade tree with his grandpa when the weather is nice. In some ways, Tony is exceptional. Diagnosed with autism at age two, Tony is nonverbal. Large crowds occasionally overwhelm him, and he sometimes is made to feel unwelcome by peers and adults unfamiliar with autism. Because Tony cannot speak, U...
PHOENIX—The fourth annual American Indian Youth Disability Summit, held on April 13, awarded a Youth Tribal Leadership Award to a college student whose interest in learning disabilities and her own speech disorder led her to study speech and hearing sciences at Arizona State University. The youth summit explored topics ranging from mental health problems like post-traumatic stress disorder to voting accommodations made for those with disabilities in Arizona. The youth s...
Mississauga, Ont.-Move over, snacks and sodas, there's a new vending machine in town! And it's serving up Indigenous specials for First Nations kids and others! Some schools and children's activity centers across Canada have been experimenting with a new vending machine that distributes food for the brain-books. Start2Finish Indigenous Collaborations is behind many of the orange machines proclaiming "Every Child Matters" that you're seeing pop up in various areas across the...
Saskatoon, Sask.-One Cote First Nations young woman in Saskatoon has soared to new heights-literally. Twenty-year-old Natasha Moar is not only a pilot, but a flight instructor for Millenium Aviation. Yes, before most students are even out of college, Natasha has already put in the training hours and launched on her career. Moar fell in love with flying sometime around her first flight. The adventurous twelve year old was supposed to be in a glider with her air cadet crew, but...
WHITEHORSE, Yukon-Indigenous students in Whitehorse are enjoying a new program that they, themselves, drive-instead of adults. A new music program that lets students guide their lessons is offering a pressure-free way for Indigenous youth to engage with music classes. The New Music Education North runs four nights a week out of the Yukon Transportation Museum in Whitehorse. The after-school classes are free with transportation and meals provided. The instructors, some of the...
ADA, Okla.-While she was a student, Paige Orr received an award that inspired a change in her choice of a dream career. "My dream was to be on camera and make videos or be an ESPN sideline reporter, but I've realized I have a knack for being the one behind the camera," said Orr, who received a Heartland Emmy Award this year for her public service announcement for the Stillwater Public Library. Orr of Frederick, Oklahoma, grew up with an adoration for the spotlight, singing in...
KELLYVILLE, Okla.-Brianna Lytle is a rare breed. The 18-year-old Chickasaw is the type of person who discovers their passion early in life and forges a path to pursue it, despite any obstacles. She is living the Mark Twain quote: "Find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life." An equestrian at heart, Miss Lytle took up barrel racing when she was 9 years old. Almost every weekend, she and her dad, Travis, loaded her horse, Cimm, and the trio...
Hockey sticks reflect Indigenous skills At the end of each of the 31 games played in the 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship held in Halifax and Moncton in January 2023, one person from each team was named Player of the Game and given a special hockey stick. Hockey Canada partnered with Mawi'Art: Wabanaki Artist Collective, an organization that focuses on developing and promoting Indigenous artists to produce the special sticks, which feat...
DURANT, Okla.-Choctaw tribal member, Savannah Toon, won the Junior World Finals for Barrel Racing in Las Vegas in December 2022. Over 800 contestants from across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Australia competed for $1 million in prizes, cash and scholarships Dec. 1-10 at the Wrangler Rodeo Arena inside the Las Vegas Convention Center. Savannah, a Smithville, Oklahoma, native, competed in one of the qualifying tournaments held all over the country for the 12 and under girls. Onl...
