A Bemidji State University administrator, and former Grand Portage resident, Bill Blackwell Jr., was one of 17 Minnesotans honored at the Governor’s Martin Luther King Day celebration in St. Paul on January 15.

Blackwell received Minnesota’s Martin Luther King Commitment to Service Award for his work at Bemidji State’s American Indian Resource Center.

Rhonda Silence talks to Blackwell about the award and about his work at Bemidji State.