Ann Hartzheim: ‘Everywhere I go, I’m Native American’

LAC DU FLAMBEAU, Wisconsin — Ann Hartzheim holds a unique position as an educator at the Lac Du Flambeau Public School, a state-funded, non-tribal school sitting on the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indian reservation. She’s one of only a few native teachers in the classroom. 

“My responsibility to my students is to be a Native American person that they can see in a position where there aren’t many of us and be able to relate to them and their families’ experiences,” said Hartzheim.

It’s Hartzheim’s desire that kids continue to educate themselves and find success after middle and high school so they can bring that knowledge back to the tribe.  

“In addition to the important of education, our school teaches traditional culture and values,” Hartzheim said. “They are trying to integrate those things more into the school’s curriculum.”

Hartzheim, who now lives in Minocqua, is quick to remind people that her current town is not home. To her, Lac Du Flambeau, the reservation where she was born and raised, will always be home. She describes the land as a sacred place where her people have always lived and exercised their rights to hunt and fish. 

Recently, her tribe has erected barricades in a long-simmering land dispute, in efforts to reach a settlement for lack of payments on easements on roads owned by the tribe. She feels empathy for the non-tribal members who have been denied access to the roads but believes it needs to be done so the tribe can be properly compensated.    

“I want people to focus on why the tribe is going through this whole barricade process and to understand the history behind it,” says Hartzheim.  

“They think the Natives won’t say anything because we’ve been put down for so long. They don’t take us seriously, that we have the brains and the backbones to stand up to them.” 

Hartzheim believes her school needs to continue to push its students to have high expectations and support their individual interests and talents.

The area high school, Lakeland Union, is off reservation. Hartzheim said she works hard to make sure all students are prepared for high school and get the support they need.

“When you’re growing up on a reservation, it can be very isolating. To succeed academically or in sports, sometimes the support wasn’t there,” said Hartzheim. “That’s where the challenge lies. Living in two worlds can be really hard.”

“A lot of our students are amazing artists, and we need to encourage them to grow their talents.” 

She cites her nephew Raymond Allen as a shining example of the benefits of furthering education on and off the reservation. 

“When Raymond was young and first started school, he had some struggles, but we knew how smart he was,” said Hartzheim.  

After high school, Allen attended Ripon College and later Duke University where he obtained a PhD in biology and chemistry. Post-college, he has worked as a scientist in places across the globe. Since his travels, he has returned to Lac du Flambeau and is now a member of the tribal council, making a difference for his native people. 

“When I young, I didn’t have anyone that was a good advisor for me, so I had to learn on my own the hard way,” said Hartzheim. 

“I want my students to be an equal. My mother taught me that education will make you equal with everybody.” 

For Hartzheim, in her own words, being an educator has been rewarding and also challenging at times. She’s taught at her school for over two decades now, but when she first started her career, the feeling of being an equal was not always reciprocated by her peers. 

“In my opinion, I feel like I have had to prove my qualifications as an educator,” Hartzheim said, adding that it was an issue she felt early on, so she worked hard to overcome it.

After receiving her initial degree in Education from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Hartzheim has since received licensing from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, a master’s degree from Viterbo University, and, most recently, a second masters from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.  

“I don’t tell people my qualifications because they need to know about them; I did those things because if I felt any areas of my teaching skills were weaker, I needed to go back to school to strengthen them,” said Hartzheim.  

When it comes to her work and involvement in her community, Hartzheim wants people’s take away to be that she has dedicated her life to educating children. “And I will until I am too old to teach,” she said. “I try to instill my high expectations on any child who comes through my door.”

“Everywhere I go, I’m Native American,” added Hartzheim. “You can see it in my face and in the color of my skin.” 

“My ancestors went through enough hardships to get me where I’m at, and that’s why I try to prove myself to them, for how they suffered for me and for that I’m going to be something.”