Grounded in Rural Missouri.

Vicky Hartzler is a leader who believes people of character have a wonderful opportunity to make a difference for others through public service. She learned the importance of family, the reality of the American dream, and the value of a strong work ethic growing up on a farm in rural Cass County working alongside her parents, Ted and Virginia Zellmer, and sister, Peggy. Vicky learned the principles of hard work, commitment, perseverance, and courage in the face of challenges as they worked the land to produce crops of corn, soybeans, milo, wheat, and hay and raised hogs and cattle.

Vicky graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a B.S. in Education and Central Missouri State University with a M.S. in Education. She would teach junior and senior high family and consumer sciences for 11 years in Lebanon and Belton, Missouri, before running for public office.