Today the Clifton High School senior and October Student of the Month serves as cadet lieutenant colonel in the school’s Marine Corps Junior ROTC program, overseeing nine other cadet officers. She is the highest-ranking officer in the corps.

Heisterman was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and also lived in Missouri before moving to Clifton with her family when she entered fourth grade. She lives in the Albion Park area of the city with her parents, Bill and Dorothy Heisterman, her 21-year-old sister Nina and 14-year-old brother Brandt. She attended School 5 and Woodrow Wilson Middle School before moving up to the high school.

She credits the Junior ROTC program with instilling in her the discipline, respect and leadership skills that have carried over into her academic and personal life.

"Being involved in ROTC has made me see that I’m a good leader and that I can do whatever I want to do in life," she said. "It has given me the motivation to try new things."

As a member of the Junior ROTC drill team, Heisterman reports to school by 6 a.m. at least three days a week to practice for competitions.

In addition to competing locally, last year the drill team traveled to Virginia for a sectional competition, where it placed first in the unarmed competition and second in the armed competition.

"It was especially rewarding because we were judged by a real Marine Corps drill sergeant," she said.

The four-year honor student has a rigorous course load this year, including advanced placement classes in psychology, history and English, in addition to college-prep level courses in forensics, calculus and her Junior ROTC class.

She has been a member of the winter and spring track teams at the high school since her sophomore year, competing in hurdling and sprinting events, and this fall she decided to join the cross country team.

"I never was interested in running before, but we have to run in ROTC and it made me realize that I could be good at it," she said.

Heisterman also serves as class president, an office she has held as a member of the Student Council since her freshman year.

As the daughter of an Army chaplain, Heisterman has been considering a career in the military for some time, and she said she hopes to receive an appointment to attend West Point Military Academy next year.

"That would be my first choice," she said.

She also plans to apply to Princeton University and is considering applying to Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Melon University.

She is not sure if she will make the military a lifelong career, but if she doesn’t receive an appointment to West Point, she plans to enroll in a college that offers an ROTC program and serve in the military for at least five years after she graduates.

Heisterman also hopes to go on to medical school, another career for which she has a passion.

"I’ve always been interested in the workings of the human body and becoming a doctor is something that I’ve been thinking about since I was little," she said.

Like most of her classmates, Heisterman wants to savor every moment of her senior year of high school. As class president, she was involved in the planning of last week’s Homecoming ceremony, and she looks forward to all of the other senior-year activities.

"I have a feeling that when I go away to college I won’t have very much free time to see my friends from high school, so I want to spend as much time as possible with them this year," she said.