QU Student Spotlight

QU | Student Spotlight

Getting Ready for Her Next Step

by Meg Duncan ′14

Jordan Heeter, a junior at QU, didn’t get into much trouble as a child, but when she did, there was one punishment that went straight to her heart.

“When I did get in trouble, my parents grounded me from reading,” she said. “My nose was always in a book growing up. I would carry around five or six books at every family gathering because I didn’t know which book I wanted to read there.”

Heeter grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with her parents, two older brothers, and a younger sister. Heeter said that as a child, her future profession was an ever-changing condition that varied from a flight attendant to a doctor, and some days, to a princess.

She pinpoints watching NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Law and Order SVU, with her grandma as an influencing factor on her decision to study forensic psychology and political science at Quincy University.

“When it got down to it, that’s kind of what gave me the drive to get into forensic psychology and political science.”

—Jordan Heeter

Another influencing factor in her life, shared with family, was sports. When she wasn’t reading at family gatherings, she was in the street with family in front of her grandmother’s house, tossing around a football. Also interested in gun sports, Heeter competed at state and national levels. She was selected to compete in Colorado, which only takes the top shooters from each state. Heeter received an offer to join a collegiate rifle team in Alabama after shooting in Colorado.

Heeter’s decision came with a choice between that offer and the academic major she wanted to pursue. She decided to pick her career goals over sports, but only for the time being.

“I decided that sports I can always come back to; I can be involved in sports in some way in some fashion, but your academic career is not always going to be here. Getting into my actual major and doing what I wanted to do was more important than holding onto a sport that would have just distracted me.”

“The captain of the team took me under her wing. She taught me so much about the law system, about how mock trials work, about how to carry yourself even though you don’t necessarily feel confident but to say things with enough conviction that someone else will believe what you are saying.”

Upon her arrival at QU, Heeter jumped right into her major and began working on the mock trial team right away. It has become a defining part of her journey through college.

Now, captain of the mock trial team, Heeter keeps herself busy on campus, taking classes, playing the flute and piccolo in the band, and as a member of the honorary band fraternity at QU, in which she holds two offices. She is also an honor student, tutor, and supplemental instructor and served as an orientation leader last year.

It would seem that such accomplishments would provoke confidence, but Heeter said that confidence is something with which she has always struggled.

“I am really good at pretending I am sure of myself. Many teachers at QU and before that have encouraged me because they see what I don’t see. They get me to see it and say, ‘You are good at this, and you are capable of this.’ They have been great motivators.”

Heeter said one of the most important things she has learned since adjusting to college is prioritizing her mental health, and now she aspires to help others do the same.

“I am not sure exactly what field I want to work in or what population I want to work with, but I want to do something that helps set up people to live better in their environment,” she said.

Her advice to those looking into college is to consider the overall picture before choosing which one best fits their vision for the future.

“It’s all about the context of what you are going to put yourself into one day. And that’s the entirety of what the experience of college is – getting ready for your next step.”