Amy Locklear Hertel

My name is Amy Locklear Hertel. I am Lumbee and Coharie from Fayetteville, NC. I have been affiliated with the Brown School for nearly 20 years in various roles and responsibilities. I would like to share with you my personal experience with the Brown School as a candidate, a student, and a MSW alum. For a little background, let me first share with you my experience growing up. Native communities are tight knit. In my communities, the concept of family is more inclusive than in mainstream society. My family includes aunts and uncles, as well as first, second, third cousins from both tribes. In many ways, family and tribe are almost synonymous.

I was raised primarily in an urban environment right between both my father’s tribe (the Lumbee) and my mother’s tribe (the Coharie). While I grew up in this urban environment I was only 20 miles away from my tribal communities where I spent most every weekend. In my school environment, I was often the only American Indian student in the group. As a result, I grew up in both worlds, both Native and non-Native.

Having walked in both worlds, I know that there is good in each. In college, I became interested in taking the best of both to empower Native communities. At the same time, I wanted to educate others about Native communities. As a junior in college, I became certain that the practice of social work would help me achieve my goals.

I applied to the Brown School because of the excellent reputation of the faculty, the diverse student body, the academic centers, and because of the scholarship possibilities. I was also considering the School of Social Work at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. UNC worked hard to recruit me and they were almost successful. That institution is close to my home and my tribes and it was at the same institution where I was completing my
undergraduate studies. It was familiar to me. However, one thing it did not have was the number of scholarship opportunities available at the Brown School. After my acceptance to the Brown School, I was offered a full scholarship which included tuition, fees, books, and a monthly stipend. The scholarship extended to me was the driving force behind my decision to attend. The Brown School became a part of my life’s journey.

To this day, my father will tell you that the hardest day of his life was the day he and my mother left St. Louis after moving me into my DeBaliviere Place apartment. I can share with you what I felt after they left. I felt alone, I felt isolated, and I became depressed. I missed my tribes, our land, my family, and everything that was familiar to me. Then, one day during my first semester, my mother called and told me, “Amy, you don’t have to stay there. You can come home anytime you want. We are already proud of you.” Her words of support gave me the strength I needed to continue. I realized in that instant that I was not getting a degree for me alone, but for my family, my tribes, and my communities.

After that, I found my place at the Brown School and at the Kathryn M. Buder Center. I became inspired.

I completed my MSW in 1999 and immediately continued my education Washington University Law School. Then, in 2008 I started the doctoral program here at the Brown School–something I could never have imagined when I first came to St. Louis.

I now have the honor of serving as the Director of the American Indian Center at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where our mission is to bridge the richness of Native communities with the strengths of Carolina in research education and service.

In the state of North Carolina alone, I work with eight tribes and four urban Indian organizations comprising nearly 123,000 American Indians in the state. On the Chapel Hill campus, I work with nearly 150 American Indian undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, I am involved with various departments, schools, centers, and institutes to engage Native communities.

For the past eight years, I have reviewed scholarship applications for American Indian students applying to the Brown School, and now have the privilege of serving as a Trustee for the Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation.

My journey has in many ways come full circle and all of these experiences have been tremendously rewarding. I am truly blessed.

In closing, the strength of the Brown School is its students, faculty and staff. Many of my
former classmates are lifelong friends, staff have become family, and faculty are mentors. The Brown School is strengthened from the vision laid out by one non-Native women over 25 years ago– Kathryn M. Buder. I can tell you from personal experience, I would not have been able to attend the Brown School if Mrs. Buder had not decided to invest in scholarships for American Indian social work students. To her, the Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation, the Brown School, and the Buder Center, I am forever grateful. I honor her vision with my forever service, gratitude and dedication to social work in American Indian communities.