For Journee Lally, her name is more than a coincidence.
It's a reminder of how each and every day is a gift to the Zemmer seventh grader and her family.
Journee, who is blind, has gone to Lapeer Community Schools her entire academic career. Does she have a disability? Yes. Does she let it affect her? Not in the least. Have her grades ever suffered? Never.
"I’ve been with Journee since second grade, and the growth she has shown over the years has been nothing short of remarkable and inspiring," said Rolland-Warner and district paraprofessional Heather Morgan. "She is phenomenal in everything she takes on - band, archery, art, writing, you name it. I could spend hours bragging about her."
Being involved is an aspect of who Journee is that continues to impress her mother, Roz, whose family adopted Journee at the age of 8, and said she loves the energy Journee exudes and the passion she shows in all she sets out to do.
"Her biggest interest is art, and there might be some new challenges this year, but I think she's the type of person that any challenge she faces is not here for long," Roz said. "She knocks down all those challenges. One might think another art class would be boring, but there's so much she still wants to learn. One day, she'll use a pottery wheel, and she will love it. She works so hard to be where she needs to be academically."
Coming into a new family at the age of five was perhaps Journee's biggest obstacle, but like so many others, she saw it through and found joy and happiness.
"I was oblivious for, like, the first three months," Journee said. "I was just kind of in a different world. I didn't have any feelings when I went to live with my (new) family. I was just OK with anything. I was like five and a half when I started feeling welcome and part of this family because things were super different.
"Then I went to Rainbow Daycare and took the bus to Schickler for Early Fives. I don't remember if I liked it, but my mom says I did. I know I had a great relationship with Miss Alicia and I was happy to be there. I remember it all being very interesting to me."
A major part of Journee's glowing personality that grabs people's attention right away is her sense of humor. During an Adaptive Archery session last school year at Rolland-Warner with instructor Chris Prill, he made a comment about the "Smurfs" cartoon and Journee responded with a joke about Prill's age. Normally one with a comeback himself, Prill laughed and was rendered speechless.
"Journee is an amazing artist and person," said Rolland-Warner Visual Arts teacher Breanna Jostock. "Every project she creates, she amazes me. I love to see her attention to detail and she isn't scared to challenge herself. Journee always wants to make sure she does something correctly so Heather and I will provide her with items to observe with her touch so she can recreate it. She also has a big personality that I just love. Her humor and quick wit make every interaction with Journee a fun one."
Towards the end of the 2024-25 school year, Journee's final art project was another challenge. She was tasked with creating an octopus in a way she had never created before.
"She used a new medium she hadn’t worked with before," Morgan explained. "She had to create the form using newspaper and masking tape, then wrap it with plaster gauze. Once the form was complete, she painted it. The entire process took about two weeks. Ms. Jostock has been amazing to collaborate with. She’s really had to think outside the box to help Journee engage with the curriculum while allowing her to bring her own unique style to it."
A true scholar despite her challenges, Journee said she works hard and has always had a support crew around her that encourages her to keep going and to do her best.
"I don't really like math that much, but I like how people praise me because I do so well," said Journee. "I have loved all my teachers and everyone that has worked with me. All my teachers treat me like everyone else, and that's what I want. I know (this) year is another new school, but I love challenges. I know I'm ready."
From a parent's perspective, Roz admitted that seeing Journee go to school as a student with special needs was a bit frightening at first, but once she saw that LCS staff went out of their way to assist Journee, those worries went away.
"My sister (Rochelle Fritz) worked in admin here and I didn't know where to start," said Roz. "There was an assessment done and Journee wound up with Mrs. (Gina) Nichols at Schickler for Kindergarten. She was so amazing with Journee. Everything was done and buttoned for start Kindergarten, Journee had Braille lessons, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech, and mobility. All those services were brought to her and at that time Journee had never been introduced to Braille. She started kindergarten with no concept of what A and B look like, so we worked with her at home and Monica (Stephens) helped us with what we could do at home and what she could do at school. And by the time Journee was in I think second grade, she was reading above school above level. She just grabbed on and I knew as soon as she could learn to read, things were going to just change quickly, and they did. Heather Morgan began working with Journee at about this time. The level of trust Journee has with Heather, her Paraprofessional, goes deep. Heather allows Journee to function as any other student in the classroom while filling a critical need for Journee to have work accessible.
"During that time, she also had a couple major surgeries, so on top of the support she got from the school, her classmates at Schickler just wrapped around her. I mean, I could drop her off at the front door and if one of her little Kindergarten friends picked her up, I'd walk away. They just got it, and it sort of carried her all the way through and everyone she met, she just blended in. They all just treated her like another student."
Being in Lapeer, Special Education resources have been a blessing to the Lally family.
"All of the services are here, the tangible services," Roz said. "And I don't know, maybe they're everywhere else, too. I don't know, but to really be able to talk about Journee with leadership and how, at the end of 12th grade, it's not like I just want for her to be able to walk across the stage and say ‘I got a diploma.’ She needs to be armed and ready for the next phase of life, and for her that's college. And at first grade, you know, it was like, that's a hefty goal. It's sixth grade, that's an absolute assumption. So much work is done for kids that might need something different. She needed to understand differently, maybe than other kids, what it meant to function in a classroom. What does that even mean? And how do you feel safe in that space? I was able to have any conversation with anyone at any time. And it wasn't like I had a laundry list of things; I just had a wish list.
"The most important thing, and I think sometimes this is where I see where parents struggle, is sometimes a teacher has to have a difficult conversation with a student. And as a parent, you have to step back, allow that, and if it's a needed conversation, we have to support that teacher. Sometimes it can be hard if you have any child that might be different than any kind of way to just want to say, ‘just protect, protect, protect.’ I think our teachers here, and all the supporting staff, have been very good about doing the right thing for her, even when it was hard. I think that's been an important piece."
Wyatt Stevens, principal at Rolland-Warner, said that while Journee was only in the building one school year, it's a year he'll always remember.
"Reflecting on our short year together, it was a year of learning for all involved," Stevens said. "Journee's accomplishments speak for themselves, but watching her interactions with staff and students was truly exceptional. Meeting with Roz and listening to her expectations of Journee and her beliefs in Journee's abilities set the stage for a successful year, both academically and socially. I enjoyed watching Journee and her peers at dances, band concerts, and even shooting archery. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Heather Morgan, Journee's paraprofessional. She assisted staff in learning Journee's abilities. She went above and beyond, showing up at events such as band concerts and even recording herself playing music so Journee could succeed in band."
Using a BrailleNote, a type of laptop that is conducive to blind people, Journee is able to read, complete assignments, send emails, and do pretty much anything a normal computer can do.
Away from the hustle and bustle of the school year, Journee enjoys playing piano, sewing, writing, reading, swimming and horseback riding. She wants to take up running as well and has kept busy this summer going to various camps across Michigan and surrounding states. Finishing up writing and publishing her first book, "A Perfect Pair," is also on her agenda.
Overall, Roz and Journee have been simply pleased and enamored with how LCS has treated them and consistently gone above and beyond to make the family feel welcome, loved and supported.
"Any needs that a child requires that fall outside of just traditional academics, sports, whatever it might be, that you have an avenue here to have discussions about what those unique needs might be," Roz said. "Every year, I sit down and talk to the teachers about the year before. I talk about expectations that I personally have for her and accountability. You know, everyone loves her so much. The teachers always sort of allowed me to have those conversations so you can talk about needs. I was allowed to schedule meetings with new teachers. I find I'm probably going to be doing that less than less because now Journee knows that she's accountable. I don't have to worry about teachers holding her accountable.
"I think once we hit Zemmer, her independence, that's going to accelerate. Lapeer is probably one of the few districts that you have an open avenue to talk about what you need for your students. I think this year will be a cool transition and then next year, everything catches up and it'll be one more year at Zemmer. She's in band, so she'll have the Mackinac trip and then the eighth grade Washington D.C. trip. There's always, like, 'OK let's just figure out how we're going to do this,' but there's no panic. It's just she's going. Let's just make sure we have sort of everything ticked off. And if we run into little bumps in the road, which we do, nine times out of 10 it happens, we get it resolved and doesn't really directly impact her."
Journee went on to say how grateful she is for her family, friends and school family and is anxious to start seventh grade and get back to playing the marimba in band.
"There's so much that we can do - it's not just you walk in, you go to the class, and then you leave at the end of the day," Journee said. "There's so much more that goes into the school day. We have gym and recess and art and music. There's so much more. I really enjoy school. I know there's clubs and things that are going to pop up that I can do, and they're after-school things. So it's not all during the normal school day.
"I know I feel safe here, I feel comfortable here, and I feel welcomed here. And I love it."
"What Journee has here is so special," added Roz. "I can't imagine us being anywhere else."