When an aunt was painting the room of Maurice “Mo” Morsette ‘09, she found a coin on his dresser inscribed with a short but powerful message: Dare to dream.

It is this message that his family hopes to share with others through the Dare to Dream Scholarship, which was established in Morsette’s memory after his passing in April 2007. The scholarship will help a male Native student from Morsette’s hometown of New Town, ND afford a college education.

Stanford’s annual Powwow will also host a three-on-three basketball tournament this Sunday to commemorate Morsette’s life as an active member in the Stanford Native community.

Tanaya Winder ‘08 said that Morsette, who played for the Native community’s intramural basketball team, “used to say that basketball was his one true love. It is a good tribute to [his] life.”

In addition, Winder and Morsette’s family hope that the Dare to Dream scholarship will expand college options for underserved students.

“His family wanted something to give back in his honor, something to help other Native students in college,” Winder said.

“There aren’t very many students from reservations at schools like Stanford,” Winder added. “I don’t think I’ve ever come across a scholarship for Native males from a reservation. It is a very underserved group.”

The scholarship will be awarded next year, and Winder hopes that it will inspire the people of their community to pursue higher education.

“Most scholarships I’ve heard of are named for older people who have worked for this corporation or that non-profit,” Winder said. “It is nice to see a scholarship come together out of pure love for an individual because he had so much love for everyone else.”

“It is amazing to think that somebody so young, 20 years old, was able to make such an impact on people,” she added.

Winder and the Morsette family have been raising funds since February and hope that they will be able to raise enough money to expand the scholarship so that they can help the recipient throughout his college career. They also hope that with enough funds they can award scholarships to multiple students.

“I’m hoping it will be something that will carry on and be something for men from reservations in general,” Winder said.

Winder said efforts have come along quite well in such a short time and they are amazed at the response from the community.

“There is a good mix of people who knew him really well and people who didn’t working for this,” Winder said. “It is really nice to see his legacy carrying on, to see how many people he touched.”