St. Michael’s Academy: Sairsha Heaton dedicating her life to God

St. Michael’s Academy senior Sairsha Heaton, inspired by the nuns who teach at her private Catholic school, has chosen to dedicate her life to God and become a nun after she graduates.

Heaton is the fourth of 10 children, all of whom have or are attending St. Michael’s, a traditional Roman Catholic school. “It’s a very Catholic school, taught by nuns and priests,” she said.

Her teachers have been fun to learn from, Heaton said. “It’s just a great community,” she said. “I’ve always loved learning and loved going to school.”

Heaton’s time at the school hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though it wasn’t because of academics. Around fifth grade, she got sick. “I was super sick for about a year,” she said. “We didn’t know what was wrong.”

After many doctor visits, she ended up in the emergency room after losing 15 pounds in three days, while also suffering from bad headaches. Doctors couldn’t find anything in her scans and were about to send her home when her father put his foot down. “He kept insisting they do more tests,” she said.

When she was in sixth grade, Heaton learned she had Type 1 diabetes, which does not run in her family. She was sent home with test strips and did insulin injections as needed, but has since started using an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor.

Heaton said she believes she likely has had diabetes since very early in her life and believes that being undiagnosed for so long made her diabetes worse. “That’s been a big part of my life,” she said. “I have great technology to help me out, but it is an ongoing struggle.”

Heaton has been involved in cross country for years and running is what helped tip her off that something was wrong. Her race results varied widely, going from a top five finish one week to a top 20 finish the next. “I had no idea what was going on and it was super frustrating,” she said.

An injury after her diagnosis led to knee surgery and a year off from racing, during which time she helped coach grade -school cross country. She said she runs because she enjoys it, not necessarily because she’s competitive. She said she’d like to participate in a Spartan race, which is a combination between a cross country race and an obstacle course.

Sister Michael Marie, a teacher at St. Michael’s, said Heaton is thoughtful and very aware of the people around her. She said she’s not surprised that Heaton would want to give back by becoming a nun. “It’s more of a steady, slow giving back and wanting to live your faith,” she said. “It’s not the usual choice that people choose, but I can’t say I’m totally surprised.”

When thinking about her future, Heaton considered several different avenues. She works for a school-age summer child care program, so she considered working in child care. She also thought about going into a medical field or becoming a teacher. She consulted her mentors as well, and about six months ago she became certain that she wanted to join a convent.

“They encourage you to put thought and prayer into it,” she said.

There are a lot of younger nuns in the convent at St. Michael’s and Heaton said she sees how happy and fulfilled they are. And if she chooses, she can still become a teacher later, Heaton said. “I love working with kids,” she said. “I love watching my teachers teach.”