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Native
ofWisconsin

Nicole Larson
Nicole Larson is from the Lac du Flambeau band of the
Ojibwe Nation. Nicole Larson has a Bachelors Degree
in mass communication and public relations, but
currently travels from school to school teaching about
the Ojibwe culture.
Hello, whats your name?
Hi, my name is Nicole Buckskin Larson. My Ojibwe spirit name is Zeguan, which translated means
Springtime. The spring spirits protect and guide me. Im from the Lac du Flambeau band of the Ojibwe
Indians in Northern Wisconsin.

Where do you reside, on or off the reservation?


I reside off the reservation, in Wausau.

Could you please give us some background information about your Nation?
Im from a place called the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation. The way that Lac du Flambeau was
given its name was because a long time ago, when the French people began to come upon our reservation,
at night they would notice there would be dancing fireballs on the water. They never really knew what it
was. It was a thing that everytime they came, they thought they would see, so they named it Lac du
Flambeau which means Lake of the Torches. In reality, what they saw was our ancestors spearing fish at
night. At that time, they had birchbark canoes and they had birchbark torches at the front of their canoes,
so what they saw was these lit-up torches. Thats how our tribe received its name, Lac du Flambeau, and
we call it Waswagoning, which is what the Ojibwe people call our reservation, Waswagoning. The reason
we call it that is because, as Native People, we call each others tribes by something that we could
remember about a tribe, and ours is called the people of the puckered toed moccasin. Thats what
Waswagoning means. So, thats how our tribe received its name.

When did the Ojibwe move to Wisconsin and where did they originate from?
Well, as part of our creation story, its told to us that our ancestors migrated here from out east. Theres
a story that goes on about our creation that tells us that when our ancestors lived far out east they received
a message that they were to travel to the place where the wild rice grows on the water. And so our
people, we are migrating people, we would begin our migration and it took us to several special
landmarks. One of them, which was told by prophecies, was that we would stop at Niagara Falls, so that
was one of our stopping places. There were several stopping places along the way. Where we finally
ended up, where wild rice grows on the water, is Lac de Flambeau, the Menominee Nation. There are
a lot of places up north where this happens, so that is where we knew our tribe was supposed to be
because of our creation story. And so there are no real specific dates, like when and where. When we
moved here its just part of our history and thats how we knew we belonged here from migrating from
out east where it wasnt suitable for us, to finding our correct homelands here in Wisconsin.
'2009

D.C. Everest Area Schools

Larson, Nicole

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Native
ofWisconsin

What is your occupation and where are you employed?


I have a bachelors degree in mass communications and public relations, but I choose not to get into the
work force in that field right at this time simply because I found that teaching and sharing our Ojibwe
culture is something that I desire more than working nine
to five in a casino, promoting a casino, or you know those
kind of venues. So, what Ive decided to do is what my
It s just now that the
father Nick Hawkins does, and that is he travels from
casino has come on to
school to school teaching about the culture. And so thats
my occupation at the time, as well as Im a Native
the reservation that
American dance performer. I travel with my fathers
people think it s unfair
dance theater, which is called the Waswagoning Dance
Theater. I am also a full-time mother which is a job too.
and whatnot, but as a

sovereign nation we
How has Indian gaming affected your nation and you
personally?
have the right to have
My school, my grade school that I grew up in from
casinos and it had
kindergarten to eighth grade was located right where a
casino is now. They tore our old school down to build a
tremendously helped
casino, and I
our reservation.
cant say that
Im not sad
about it. I would love to have my children have gone to
school there, simply because its right on the lake and its
beautiful, but the casino has helped our people tremendously.
Theres a lot of negative people, a lot of negative things about
gambling, but its told to us historically that our ancestors
were gambling people. I mean we would sit all winter as
women in the tribe. We would bead. We would bead
beautiful moccasins. We would bead head dresses and
harnesses and things for outfits and it was told from my
grandmothers and their grandmothers that men would go off
and play games and gamble their beadwork away. So
gambling isnt necessarily something new to our people, its
always been there. Its just now that the casinos have come
onto the reservation that people think its unfair and whatnot.
But, as a sovereign nation we have the right to have casinos
Nicole demonstrating how to and it has tremendously helped our reservation. We have new
buildings where we can have special programs for children
make fire.
that have parents that arent capable of seeking help for
problems and we have better health facilities. Before casinos we were pretty poor and its a miracle that
just within the past ten to fifteen years that our communities have really grown and prospered in a way
that not only helps our children, but it also helps our elderly and its given us a better quality of life. I
really think that it has and without that we might have more health problems and the crime rates might
be higher. Its really difficult growing up on a reservation. Im a classic example of how difficult it can
be but I always tell people when I do presentations that my father read a study and it says in this study
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D.C. Everest Area Schools

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Native

that native children growing up on the reservation have the same amount or more post traumatic stress
as Vietnam veterans, just from growing up on the reservation. And if you can comprehend how much
stress a Vietnam vet has, post traumatic stress, you can imagine what a young child living on the
reservation with not enough health care and not enough programs to take care of the parent, went through
back then. Now the casinos have given us complete and total a better economy than our communities
before.

ofWisconsin

Could you please describe your schooling and the quality of your education?
I have a bachelors degree in public relations and mass communication, I went to school at the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It took me five years to graduate, simply because I had a son in-between, and
I also have taken other facilitator training programs such as the Virtues Project, Im the facilitator for that.

How much does your family and your nation value education?
Education is always valued. I think that just about every family knows how important it is to be educated
and to complete school, but within my family I know that my dad truly wanted me to go on to college
and I think that his pressure and constant dedication trying to encourage me to go to college is why I did.
My mother as well, she worked in the school system, always kept me on my toes on my grades. Those
values I carry on and I will never forget. That is why I hold education as one of the most important values
for my sons. On reservations, even though you have parents that havent gone on to college or havent
even graduated high school, I think that with the programs that we have now on our reservations, all the
young children know how important it is to get a good education if they want to make it into society and
they want to become something that will someday help them to reach all their goals. I think that its very
important to me, my children, and most children on the reservation.

Have you been told anything about the boarding schools?


The boarding schools. Well, just for historical fact, the
house I grew up in is one of the three boarding school
buildings on our reservation. They were all linked together
by underground tunnels and my house was across the
highway. It was told to me that in the boarding school era,
they had a jail next door to my house and I always
wondered what a jail would be doing right by a boarding
school building and I never found any answers to this. I
dont know how true it is, but its one of the stories thats
been told ever since the boarding schools were there on our
reservation. Those tunnels that connected all three houses, the whole expansion of them was about two
football fields so they were all within two football fields away. I mean one was right across the street
and the other one was a football field back. But they say that those underground tunnels were. Nobody
ever went into them because they were abandoned, but they say that there are children that try to escape,
to go through the tunnels, and one of the tunnels was right underneath my basement steps. I always really,
all my life Ive always been afraid of that hole and Ive thought to myself, should I go in there with the
flashlight, what will I find? And we lost just so many puppies and dogs down there from crawling down
there. But otherwise thats just a more recent personal story. But from the boarding schools I have so
many stories to tell and a lot of them seem similar, but each one holds something different because its
within your family that you know the story and Ive been told that when my grandmother was young she
was sent away and of course, she wasnt allowed to speak her native tongue, and of course she was made
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D.C. Everest Area Schools

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Native

to cut her hair and she was made to wear to not speak of her home. Those are types of things that wore
off on my mother, who only had her mother until she was 15 years old, but the way that my grandmother
raised my mom of course reflects on the later generations. I dont know if you can see that pattern
developing, but when you become ashamed of something that is a part of you, you kind of pass that
shame on to your children where eventually they wonder why you were even ashamed. You know, that
is basically where I am at. If I could have my grandmother back just to talk about all those stories, I
would love to hear them and you know I would just love
to give her a hug and tell her how thankful I was that she
was so brave and that she brought my mom here and my
It was the government
mother is wonderful and she raised her very well. But,
you know those stories are very hurtful to families to talk
always believing we
about and they bring a lot of pain with them, and so thats
were, you know
probably all I can share.
ofWisconsin

Do you have a specific religious affiliation?


doing demonic things
Well, I belong to the Midewiwin Medicine Society, and
what that is, is the traditional way of life of the
but they didn t realize
Anishanabe people, the Ojibwe people, the people of this
that this is a natural
part of the Turtle Island, this part of the United States of
America. The medicine society has been around since
part of our life.
weve been alive, and its one of the oldest, Im going to
call it religion for a lack of another word, that our people have known. Im very, very honored and
fortunate to be raised in the lodge to learn these traditional ways, to learn these ceremonies that have been
done before my grandmothers grandmother was around. My son, who is eleven years old, is also a part
of the Midewiwin and you know its really difficult nowadays to talk about this because it was forbidden
for us to talk about this. It was the government always believing we were, you know worshiping evil or
doing demonic things. They didnt realize that this is a natural part of our life. I mean just like everybody
prays and everybody has wonderful things about their religion that they appreciate. Thats all we had as
well, we just did it through drumming and singing and dancing and thats what the medicine tribe is and
you can probably look it up in the historical societies or in books, but thats the religion or way of life
that my family belongs to.

worshiping evil or

Now does most of the nation, as far as you know, also have this religion?
No, no it dwindled down quite drastically when missionaries came to our land. Their missionary work
took a big hold on our people and turned a lot of them Catholic or Christian or what-have-you. A lot of
our elders now still believe in Catholicism, but the traditional people that have always been raised
traditionally still belong to the medicine society. So, it is small but its growing dramatically. A lot of
people are finally realizing that they need to come back to their roots. Whats really remarkable is that
our prophecy that has been given to us in our creation story from the beginning of our people tells us that
in the seventh fire that there will be a light skinned race that is looking to find the tracks of their ancestors
and to find these questions that need answering and thats where were at right now. Its called the
seventh fire prophecy and its talked about in my stepfathers book called the Michomis Book. His name
is Eddie Benton-Banai. So, thats where were at right now and a lot of the people from my reservation
dont belong to the Midewiwin. You know several years ago maybe there was a handful. A lot of them
are from Canada, Native People from Canada and out east but our numbers are dramatically increasing
which is wonderful that people are finally coming back to their traditional roots and trying to learn their
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'2009

D.C. Everest Area Schools

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language and learning the teachings of their old ways.

Native
ofWisconsin

Are you involved in the leadership or political issues of your nation in any way?
I dont try to dwell in politics. I learned that from my father. Hes one of the most brilliant educators that
I know and he believes that staying out of politics is just the best route. And hes a leader in his own
way. Hes a leader in his efforts to maintain treaty rights for our people. He was at the forefront of the
spearfishing treaty rights controversy and hes a leader in that way. Hes a leader in
fighting against alcoholism and hes a leader in adhering to
the beliefs of the traditional Ojibwe people and teaching
Natives and non-Natives about our culture. I have never
seen him to be political in any way and neither does my
mother. She fights for whats right for our people, but not
necessarily in a political manner. Im not in that arena.

Can you describe the current governmental structure of


your nation?
Well, we have something called the tribal council and we
have a president and a vice president and then seven council
members and theyre all elected by the people.

How does this differ from your nations traditional structure of government?
Traditionally our people, as I was told, elected their leaders. We had a chief. We had several chiefs in our
history, but they were always elected by the people for things that they have done. You dont become
elected because your father was a chief. You have to have earned that responsibility of becoming a chief.
You have to have proof that you can lead your tribe. So I think that the electing part of it is basically the
same except we didnt have council members a long time ago

What are some of the major political issues currently being addressed by your nation?
There are so many of them I hate to choose. Okay, well theres one on blood quantum, on new members
being enrolled which is so indecisive because nobody really wants to make a step forward or a step back.
So, its kind of stuck where its at, the problem is that even though our tribe realizes that we need to
prevent genocide where our people become extinct, because the blood is thinning, they still continue to
turn away those children or adults that have enough Native American blood from our tribe to even get
enrolled. So this one is very, very touching to me because I have to deal with it with my children. To
have a good tribal council you need people that are educated that can foresee the future and that can make
very important decisive decisions. Thats why tribal governments fail. Its because they elect the wrong
people. Thats one, others could be housing, where money is spent, whos spending the money.

What cultural traditions have you still maintained in your life?


Were dancers. Were Native American dancers. Were traditional people. We go to our ceremonies. We
go to Sweat Lodge. We attend a Midewiwin ceremony four times a year. We participate in naming
ceremonies and traditional wedding ceremonies. We teach our kids to drum and sing and play the Native
American flute. We teach our kids the traditional language, the Ojibwe language. We do visions and
berry fests and its endless. Theres lots of things. Even though we dress in Fube or Guess jeans or Adidas
shoes, people tend to think that were not traditional because were in average mainstream society. Well
thats where theyre a little bit misinformed because we were forced to do this. Not now, Im not forced,
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D.C. Everest Area Schools

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Native

but Im accustomed to living this way so therefore I am a part of mainstream society but I am also a
traditional person. I consider myself a very traditional person as well as my parents and my grandparents.
I try to uphold the traditional aspects of our people, yet I live in mainstream society and Im a
contemporary gal. I like modern day music. So I guess that you could say I have the best of both worlds.

ofWisconsin

Could you describe some of these traditional activities,


such as a powwow?
A powwow is a social gathering of all tribes. It consists
It s a place for all
of social dancing, native regalia, drum groups,and
people to meet and
singers. We have tribes that come from all over. We just
came from a powwow last weekend. My son and I are
forget all the negative
both dancers, my baby is soon to be a dancer and singer,
bad feelings and just
and we consider the powwow life a very major part of
our lives. We belong to a powwow family. We can go
relax and have fun and
anywhere in the United States or Canada and find a
meet new people.
powwow and fit right in. Its really odd for outsiders to
see that because I may not know anybody at that
powwow, but I go there and I feel like I belong. Thats
my family and thats the way Native People are. You take care of your people, and you welcome them
to these social gatherings. Its a place for all people to meet and forget all the negative bad feelings and
just relax and have fun and meet new people. Thats what a powwow is all about.

Is it difficult for today, in the modern world, to keep your culture alive?
Is it difficult? Its not difficult for me. Its not difficult for me, because I was fortunate and Im very
grateful that I had parents that took the time to take me to powwows, to take me to ceremonies, to speak
Ojibwe to me, to make me feel proud that Im Native American, to stick up for me in schools when I was
attacked with racism by not only students, but from teachers. Those kinds of events are what create selfesteem in an individual. If I didnt have that it might not be easy for me to learn and keep my traditions
nowadays. So I cant say that its easy for every Native Person because I dont know what theyve been
through or what their family is like. But, I know for me that its just an everyday part of our life that we
share our culture and we practice passing these traditions down to our kids so that they have them to pass
to their kids in a way that makes them feel good about themselves and proud of the fact theyre Native
American.

What kinds of things do you do for recreation and entertainment?


Well, we do just about everything. We play basketball. We live on the lake up north so we go fishing a
lot. We go water skiing. We love to gather wild rice. We love to go spear fishing. We go hunting. We have
snowmobiles. We have four-wheelers and three wheelers, and just about anything that the average person
would like to do, those are the kinds of things that we do.

What are your nations views on environmental protection?


In the Medicine Wheel Prophecy it is told to us that each race of people, the black race, the white race,
the red race, and the yellow race are all given a responsibility. Ones given the protection of fire, ones
given the protection of air, ones given the protection of the earth, and ones given the protection of the
water. As Native People were taught to care for the earth. You will always notice that amongst any tribe,
any native person that they hold nature, mother earth, in the highest regard. If at anytime I sit and ponder
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how our mother earth is going to survive all the devastation that human beings have done to her, the only
person that I believe can try to help put this planet back on Earth would be a Native American person
who is traditional with the culture and has those beliefs within them that they can raise you know what.
And I really believe that we need that. We need some leadership that will take the strong actions that will
help protect our mother earth, because I know growing
up in the medicine lodge were taught all these special
medicines to help sick people. Im also fortunate to be
People want to believe
honored as a jingle dress healing dancer. But, without the
medicines of this mother earth we wouldnt have healing.
that racism is gone,
Many people honor that in every aspect of the way that
but you know I mean
they honor how special and important our mother earth
is. And I dont think that thats something that you learn.
for the majority part of
I think thats something that youre born with that you
it racism is lessened by
have that closeness to mother earth.
ofWisconsin

What conflicts still exist today between Native


Americans and Whites?
Theres probably a billion of them. I mean every race
has conflicts with other races, but I think its just pure lack of education that these conflicts arise. You
know, if I think youre trying to generalize, well, theres always racism you know. If people want to
believe that racism is gone, but you know I mean for the majority part of it racism is lessened by
education. I believe that people are really realizing that what they dont know can hurt them. So, its
better to learn about other cultures and understand. For instance, there was a huge controversy about
spearfishing. The non-Indian people believed that we had more rights than they did, and why should we
have special rights when they cant have these rights? So the fact is that several years later they finally
realized that the paperwork we were giving them at that particular time when spear fishing was going on
was accurate. The paperwork that we were showing them was letting them know that just because were
spearfishing our fish doesnt mean were harming our resources. You can use a fishing pole and a line
and harvest your fish that way, thats your prerogative. You get your fish how you want to. But
traditionally we used a spear to get our fish and were not allowed to take anymore fish from the lake
than you are but they didnt believe that back then. They thought, Oh my God the Indians have a special
right. They can go in there and spear all the fish they want. That wasnt true. We had a specific limit
that we had to stay in and they just didnt see that. So, thats where we believe there was just a lack of
education. There was a lack of understanding. And now that controversy has dwindled down to where
people finally realize that. So, I think amongst each race you know there are. Still in that community
though, those surrounding communities where we were spearfishing around Lac de Flambeau theres a
little bit of resentment towards us because of that era. Maybe those that were on camera back then are
maybe ashamed nowadays that they were doing that and we had proof of it because we have tapes from
the eighties when that was going on you know. Theyre holding their kids up on their shoulders. So
theres always going to be that.

education.

Could you tell us if you were a member of the spear fishing controversy?
Oh yeah, definitely that was who I was. Thats my parents. They were at the forefront of that. My dad
was on TV every night. Nick Hawkings and my mother Goldie Larson, they were both spearfishers and
I was just a teenager at the time riding in the boats sitting in the middle. I was the fish counter. My mom
had to put a football helmet on my head, because of all the rocks that were being thrown at us at the time.
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Native

I was spit on by people. I was hit with rocks. I mean, it was a very degrading time in my life, but from
it Ive learned a whole lot and it was definately a point in my life that I wouldnt want to revisit, but it
was a learning experience.

ofWisconsin

Could you please share some more of the Ojibwe legends or creation stories?
Well, what would you like to hear?

Maybe about how the Ojibwe came upon Turtle Island.


The Creation Story. Well, part of the creation story is told to us that. The word Anishinabee, thats
what they call our people, Anishinabee. If you break that word down in Ojibwe it means from whence
the male of the species was lowered to the earth. Its told in the creation story that as the Creator was
creating Earth, drops of sand fell through his fingers and
those were the medicines. The first breath of life that was
put into the Earth was blown through a Megis shell. Thats
why the Megis shell is very, very respected amongst the
Ojibwe people. Its a shell, but he believed that the Creator
blew the first breath of life through that Megis shell. So, in
a lot of our ceremonies we use the Megis shell.

How is your band different from the other Ojibwe nations?


We have different dialects of Ojibwe language. We all speak
the Ojibwe language, but our dialects might be different.
Were different because of our land. Our reservation is on a
lot of water, so our people are very good at fishing and gathering rice. Whereas, some reservations might
have a lack of water.

Could you please describe the role of the Ojibwe in the American Indian Movement?
Oh, AIM? Well, Im very fortunate again to have been raised by my stepfather, Eddie Benton-Banai, who
was one of the founding godfathers of the American Indian Movement. He and several others formed
the American Indian Movement as a way of maintaining justice for our people at that time in that era.
AIM can be for any nation. There isnt a specific role for the Ojibwe. To become an AIM member you
have to be a political activist. You have to want to represent and fight for the rights that Native People
deserve. They fight for our people in ways that theyre being wronged by the government or other
entities.

Was this movement effective?


Absolutely, I believe that its been very effective.

What is the leading industry in Lac de Flambeau today?


The leading industry would probably have to be our fisheries department, our fish. Our fish and game.
We are one of the major stocking industries where we stock our lakes. I would have to say the fisheries
department.

Are you involved in the Lake of the Torches Casino at all?


I used to be employed there for seven years. I was a blackjack dealer there. I was in the public relations
department, the marketing department
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.
Could you please tell us about how your tribe has grown from when they first came to Turtle Island to
present day?
Well, just like any other people weve grown. I do a talk on the transformation and the role of women.
That talks about how before Europeans came to our land and how the roles of women have changed so
dramatically, how psychologists have called what Native Women feel a catastrophic response. This is
something I believe is so important to understand when youre trying to understand a culture or
understand a race. Women, weve had roles in our tribe, and one of the roles is that and the role of the
transformation of women. Before Europeans came to our land traditional Ojibwe people lived very far
apart from each other. They respected each others space. They were very humble people. They only
gathered what they needed from the Earth. And in that, the women were the backbone of the family.
Thats what we have been called, and we still call our women that because women were not only the caregivers, they took care of the children. They also ran the trap lines. They set the trap lines. They checked
the trap lines in the summer, fall, winter, whenever they are. They also did all the fishing, and they also
did all the cooking. They did the sewing. Womens roles traditionally were greatly needed amongst the
family. And to make the story short, but just give you an understanding of why psychologists call what
right now I feel inside as a catastrophic response. Psychologists say they have no other way to describe
the emptiness that contemporary women feel. The generations after the movement of Europeans to our
Nation is that we have this feeling of emptiness, because we lost our role as the caregivers of our families.
And the reason for that is because the Europeans or the French or whoever they were at the time, made
promises to Native People that if we gave up our land, moved to a reservation where our houses had
running water where we didnt have to carry our buckets of water from the river like we used to do. Our
houses would have running water. They would have plumbing. They would be close to the roads where
traders would come and they would buy our beadwork. They would buy our hides. It was promised us
that if we moved from our homelands we would have all these easier conveniences where we wouldnt
have to work so hard. They made it sound so good and so great. But say that was my great grandmother,
she lived in this time where there wasnt all this desire to move from her homelands. She took up the
offer, moved to the reservation, had children. My grandmother lost in that removal a lot of the work that
had to be done if she had lived in her other traditional homeland. She would have to know how to trap.
She would have to know how to hunt. She would have to know how to fish. But now that were closer
to stores we can buy our fish. We can buy our meat. We can buy our sugar. We can buy our flour. We can
buy our corn. So we didnt have to do all this hard work. Well now theres me, this generation, who deep
down inside I know I know how to do all that stuff, but Ive never been shown how to do it. My mom
never really had to do it. Her mom sort of learned from her mom talking about it. So theres something
inside of women, us Native woman, through these past generations thats called, we call it an emptiness.
We know that we know how to do those roles, but theyre not taught to us and thats where our roles have
changed since Europeans have come here. Now, I have the capability and the education to learn how to
do things myself again. I am relearning how to do all those traditional things, even though my mom
didnt have to do them. Now I want to learn how to do them so I can bring that part of my culture back
and teach my children how to do it. So theres this cycle that started, then went in reverse, and now were
really trying to retain our traditions. Can you see where Im coming from, how our roles have changed?
And I read a book on that and thats why I learned about that study, it was a study of the Grassy Narrows
Reserve in Canada. This psychologist went up there and he says, I have no way to explain to you how
these women feel except to say that its a catastrophic response. And it just blew my mind. I thought
that is exactly what I feel and thats what my mom feels. We talked about it. And so I just wanted to share
that with you.

ofWisconsin

Larson, Nicole

'2009

D.C. Everest Area Schools

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