It’ll take about 200 tins of 24 caramels each to pay for Heather Cistola to make the trip to Washington, D.C., that she’s earned.

Heather, a sixth-grader at Prairie Park School, was selected to participate in the Sept. 10-16 People to People World Leadership Forum in the nation’s capital, but she can’t afford the program’s $2,200 tuition plus travel expenses.

Instead of giving up, however, Heather decided to become a young entrepreneur and use her grandmother’s “secret” recipe for caramels.

So far, Heather has sold about 50 of the $9 tins of caramels. And all those tins of caramels have meant a lot of standing over the stove with her mom, Alyson Cistola. Together, they’ve made 14 batches of the sticky, sweet brown caramels. Each batch takes about an hour to make, and mother and daughter make as many as four batches at a time.

The World Leadership Program is for students in sixth through eighth grades. Each day of the seven-day program is different, Cistola said. Topics range from war to government.

“One day they’ll do the past and another they’ll do air and space,” Cistola said.

And that’s OK with Heather, who likes math but really wants to be a veterinarian. Instead of the subject matter, Heather’s looking forward to meeting new people who are her age and leaders in their community.

Heather has been a leader in Lawrence for some time. She’s using her fundraising to collect money for the Lawrence Humane Society, where she also volunteers. For every tin of caramels Heather sells, she donates 50 cents to the Humane Society.

Heather Cistola, a sixth-grader at Prairie Park School, prepares some of the caramels that she has been selling. Heather was recently selected to travel to Washington, D.C., as part of a People to People World Leadership Forum; in order to take the trip, she has been selling caramels made with her grandmother's secret recipe.

Heather makes a practice of sharing her good fortune with others. She has turned her birthday party into a book drive and she has converted a $100 school prize into a $120 donation to a local food bank.

Heather’s teacher, who nominated her for the honor, says she’s a remarkable student with a long list of athletic, academic and philanthropic accomplishments.

“The whole forum is about leadership,” said Catherine White, a sixth-grade teacher at Prairie Park, “and I thought what a good example of leadership, coming up with ideas that she provides the money.”

Not bad work for an elementary school student.

“I feel like I need to give something to someone. I get everything, and I feel like I need to give to other people,” Heather said.

Heather credits her mother with teaching her to give to others and not be selfish, but even Mom is shocked with some of Heather’s ideas.

“She’ll buy things at garage sales, with her own money and give it to others,” Cistola said.

The World Leadership Forum, put on by People to People International out of Kansas City, Mo., has a variety of programs that are “a way to further cultural understanding and world peace,” said Tyanne Stone, a delegate assistant with the program. More than 3,000 students nationwide this year will take part in the particular program that has accepted Heather.

Heather and her mom are getting ready to make another batch of caramels because Heather has about 20 orders left. If she’s going to make it to D.C., she’s got a lot more to make.

To help Heather out by ordering a batch of her caramels, either call the Cistolas at 749-2214 or send an e-mail to acistola@aol.com. The Cistolas hope to raise the money during the next couple of months.