Not many people can say they were born in a town that shares their name.

Junior Caleb Heimbach is originally from Heimbach, Germany, He used to live in Oklahoma, until he and his mother moved to Arkansas in the middle of his third grade year.  He’s been to Germany, where he’s from, and plans on going back during his senior year for the first time since fifth grade to see his cousin Sasha, and his wife. 

However, his international move wasn’t the biggest change he has experienced. One of his most life-altering moments was in 2015 when his brother died by suicide.  Heimbach says his brother was selfless and had a giving spirit.    

“My brother was the kind of guy that would take the shoes off of his own feet and give them to a homeless man in need- which is actually a true story,” Heimbach said.

Heimbach says that after his brother’s death, his life changed, and it forced him to focus on what was important and what wasn’t. He became a bit more serious, although he still has a sense of humor.

Sports have been an outlet in Heimbach’s life, even though his experiences haven’t always turned out the way he expected.

“I somehow ‘accidentally’ tried out for the football team in seventh grade, when I was actually there for the track and cross country tryouts,” he said.

Heimbach was too nervous to say anything, so he went through the entire tryout and ended up playing on the team for a year before he moved on to something different.  

“I definitely had no idea what I was doing the entire time, but it’s okay,” he said.

Heimbach has tried a lot of different sports through the years, including football, soccer, baseball and tennis.  

“I thought that tennis was interesting, because I had played ping pong, and I was pretty good at that, so I thought, “Why not try a massive version of ping pong?” and I ended up being pretty good at that too,” he said.

More recently, Heimbach became interested in figure skating and picked it up on his own.  He became one of the top skaters in a mere three days, possessing a natural talent for the sport.

“The people who were watching me try it for the first time asked me, ‘Are you sure you haven’t skated before?’” Heimbach said.

While he enjoys sports, Heimbach is most passionate about his involvement in ROTC, which has helped him know when to take things seriously and when to take charge of a situation.

“ROTC has helped me decide what I want to do for a career, which is to go to college and study aerospace engineering, and then I’ll join the Air Force to eventually become a fighter pilot,” he said.

Heimbach already has experience flying a bit from the crop dusters on a farm near Helena, Arkansas that his mother’s side of the family owns.

“We just go down there and fly,” Heimbach said. “It’s really fun.”