By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.– took very different paths when they graduated from Brandon High School nearly a quarter of a century apart— he in 2000, she in 1976.

Quisenberry went on to graduate from West Point, then entered the U.S. Army, serving as an infantry officer for the Airborne Rangers from 2004-2012, completing three combat tours in Afghanistan as platoon leader, executive officer and company commander, and receiving three Bronze Stars and the Meritorious Service Medal before leaving the military, graduating from the University of Michigan with a master’s in business administration, and joining General Motors, where he is a senior financial analyst today.

McDermott continued her education at Albion College, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology, went on to graduate from Wayne State University Medical School with a Ph.D in anatomy and took that with her to Boston, where she has spent the last nearly three decades at Harvard University, conducting laboratory eye research for several years and then teaching full-time for the last 20 years, winning numerous Harvard honors.

While their life journeys have led them in very different directions, they both made their way back to their hometown Oct. 13 to be honored as the fourth and fifth inductees to the BHS Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.

“I am very excited about our selections,” said Superintendent Matt Outlaw, adding they were chosen from among 14 nominations this year. “The people last year set the bar high and these people keep the bar high.”

Quisenberry, honored for distinguished service to our nation, and McDermott, honored for distiguished achievement in research and academia, are the second class inducted and join the 2015 inaugural class of Ron Sutton, Matt Lentz, and Joe Slaughter.

A selection committee consisting of school administrators, alumni, members of the historical society and student representatives reviewed 14 nominations this year. Criteria for nominees include having graduated from Brandon High School at least 10 years ago and distinguishing themselves in the years since leaving the district, whether through career achievement, civic involvement, volunteerism, philanthropy, service to our nation, contributions to the Brandon-Ortonville community, or outstanding leadership.

McDermott called the recognition an “absolute shock” and was excited to come back to be honored, as well as to speak to classes of students. She loves to teach, so it was natural for her to accept the invitation.

At Harvard, her research on the eye involved planning experiments, thinking logically and in a step-by-step manner about what to do in an experiment to answer a question, and also imagine things that could go wrong or affect the data.

She left research long ago for teaching, but still is in the lab for guiding students through dissection. She also lectures on anatomy, and teaches histology, which she explains is looking at tissue underneath a microscope, all toward the central core concept that the structure of the body, cells and organs leads to the function of each. She never wanted to be a medical doctor, but was always interested in the human body and medicine, explaining that even as a child, she would help her father, a hunter and fisherman, clean fish, pheasants and deer that they would eat for dinner.

“I was always interested in what was inside things,” said McDermott. “I would open up seeds, acorns, whatever you found on the ground as a kid. I’ve been opening up things for a long time. I always wanted to know, how did they work?”

When Quisenberry joined West Point, his motivation was to get a college education while doing the most challenging, difficult thing he could think of and because the opportunity to serve his country appealed to him. While he was still a cadet, the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred.

“It was very different to join the Army in 2000 than in 2004,” he notes. “Anytime during the first two years at West Point, you can quit with no strings attached. When 9/11 happened, many said, ‘This is different than what I signed up for.’”

But Quisenberry called 9/11 his generation’s call to arms. He saw the future that he had envisioned would be much more challenging, still, he chose to join the infantry, go to ranger school, and put himself in the most important place he could in the military and deployed three times to Afghanistan, the first time, in 2005-2006, for seven months, the second for 15 months in 2007-08, and the last for one year, from February 2010-2011.

“It was exhausting, draining, you deploy for a year and the day after you get off the plane, you start training to go back,” said Quisenberry, who was in a combat unit assigned to securing areas, training the local army and local police in Afghanistan, all while being attacked by insurgents.

His reward was seeing progress made. On all of his deployments, he was placed in a lawless, dangerous region of Afghanistan and most times when he and his comrades left, there was a semblance of functioning government and improved safety. He is proud of the work he did in the military, feels lucky to have survived it, and happier still to have moved on to the next phase in his life, raising a family in Michigan.

“I think the thing I am most proud of is coming back and starting a family of my own, without a doubt,” said Quisenberry. “I feel flattered that I received recognition for my military service, but that chapter is closed. People did think— ‘You’re crazy, you served for eight years, you’re close to retirement,’ but that is not a sustainable lifestyle… After I got married, I closed the Army chapter and started a new one.”

Justin Quisenberry is married to Jodie. The couple have two daughters, Nora, 4, and Margaret, 2.