Throughout Keestin O’Dell’s (Bachelor of Arts ’16) undergraduate degree at MacEwan, he regularly travelled home to Frog Lake First Nation, where he enjoyed long chats with his mosum (grandfather).

“We talked a lot about what I was going to do and who I was going to be,” the 2025 Emerging Leader Award honoree explains. “Closer to graduation, our conversations shifted to entering adulthood and what that life would look like.”

As they talked about leadership, community and the Cree idea of okihcitaw (often translated as provider or warrior), a single, short instruction from his mosum stuck in O’Dell’s mind: “Take care of your campfire.” 

“In our nêhiyaw, or Cree, ways, to take care of your campfire is to connect – to invite people in; to provide guidance, kindness, compassion and ceremony; and to feed others,” explains O’Dell. “You can always make the campfire bigger; whatever you add determines how strong it’ll burn.”

Those teachings about life, community and leadership have been at the forefront as O’Dell built a career in higher education over the past almost-decade, first at MacEwan’s kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre and today at Bow Valley College’s Iniikokaan Centre. 

Emerging Leader Award honoree Keestin O'Dell 

During the eight years he spent at MacEwan as a student and then an employee, O’Dell’s campfire blazed. He worked on a research project examining how Halloween costumes represented Indigenous women, their culture and identity. He continued with research while he was a student recruiter and advisor at kihêw waciston, exploring Indigenous masculinities. He was an integral part of the Indigenous community, working towards reconciliation and offering support and lectures that allowed students and staff to engage in Indigenous education.

But the thing about campfires, explains O’Dell, is that not everyone stays at the same one forever. In 2021, he moved to Calgary, bringing the authenticity, compassion and understanding he shared with MacEwan students to the Iniikokaan Centre. 

“The centre already had great student programming, so I wondered what I could offer,” he says. He started with an invitation to join him each week for tea and bannock. The first student he connected with hadn’t been to post-secondary in decades and had never been to an Indigenous student centre. Other students walked in saying they didn’t know how to smudge or even what it meant to be Indigenous. 

“Seeing students getting comfortable in their identity, participating in ceremony, being successful in their education and finding community in a place where they may not have found it before is one of the most rewarding things I could ever do,” says O’Dell.

It’s also what he’s most proud of. Ask O’Dell about his achievements, and he humbly points to those of others. Seeing students at Indigenous graduation and hearing their stories of working through barriers and persevering. Seeing youth from his community being interested in post-secondary education. Hearing about the success of students he worked with who are now alumni. And walking alongside other Indigenous people who have attended post-secondary and led the way for others. 

“I first went to MacEwan for the Dreamcatchers Indigenous Youth Conference when I was 15. I remember walking around, absolutely loving that place. I knew it was where I wanted to go. I didn't even apply anywhere else. Ten years later, I got to be the emcee for the same conference and help young people feel comfortable in a post-secondary setting.”

But being honoured with an Emerging Leader Award has been a bit overwhelming, says O’Dell. 

“I teared up quite a bit – it is just such a huge honour for me,” says O’Dell. “In our Cree teachings, we talk about one of the values being to be seen and known. You can’t be a leader if you’re hiding. You have to be out there. You need to be visible. I am incredibly proud to have gone to MacEwan, worked there, been an alum, and now to receive this award. It means so much to me.”