A Peaceful Storm
Christopher Amos
The Alvarado Star
January 7, 2010
There is something special about Stormi.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see she has severe cerebral
palsy – her movements are staccato, her arms twisted, her speech is strained and a wheel
chair is her only mobility. However, there is something special about Stormi
that might not be noticed unless you know her well, and those that do are
profoundly affected.
Stormi Morris’ condition has made life a challenge. However,
the Alvarado High School senior did not let that stop her from studying,
competition and achieving – as much as possible – with her fully-abled friends
and classmates.
With the help of her parents Chris and Lana Morris and a
school district accommodating for students with special needs, Stormi has
achieved more than many students with similar restrictions. When she tried out for and made the sixth-grade choir, it
was a pleasant surprise. Six years later when she made varsity choir and then
earned a position with the award-winning Alvarado Honors Chorale, some people
were astonished.
Choir director Edward Smith was not at all surprised.
“Stormi has to try harder. She puts in more effort and more
hours than any student I know, and that is what varsity choir is all about,”
Smith explained. “Oh, yeah. She hits wrong notes and
comes in at
incorrect times, but so does everybody else sometimes.”
Smith and assistant choir director, Fran Leddy, oversee
the choir program throughout the school district, and having a special needs
student in the fold has not deterred them from giving adequate attention to all
of their students.
“Treating special needs students like peers is exactly what integrating them
into life is all about,” Smith said. “To tell you the truth, I believe having
Stormi in the choir has helped us as much as we have helped her. The students
agree and will not perform without her.”
Her parents would beg to differ on who is receiving the
greater benefit.
“I can’t begin to express what the directors mean to Stormi
and to us,” Lana said. “All her life she wanted to sing and all Stormi thinks
about is singing in the choir. The directors have been so good to her. I can’t begin
to tell you what they have done for her.”
She must learn everything by hearing, retain it to memory
and be tested orally, because she can’t see or write.
“She is legally blind,” her mother explained. “Her eyes move
constantly and she can’t focus on words or music, so she has to memorize
everything.”
One day in sixth-grade choir, Stormi began vocalizing
words properly for her first time. When her director, Leddy, heard her words,
it brought her to tears – not because of Stormi’s progress, but because the
words were so profound for the struggling girl in the wheel chair.
The choir was singing a selection from The Littlest Mermaid:
Up where they
walk.
Up where they run.
I wish I could be
part of that world.
Chris Morris knows Stormi cannot sing like her peers, but he
knows his daughter has inner talent that makes up for her physical
limitations.
“I know she doesn’t sing like the other varsity singers
supposed to, but she has the heart of a varsity singer,” he said while
distributing choir concert posters to area businesses before the group’s
Christmas concert. “It is all because of the school district and directors like
Mr. Smith and Miss Leddy that Stormi has a chance to do this, and choir has
given her purpose in life.”
Smith credits Stormi’s parents for their diligence with
their child. Her parents, however, believe Stormi is simply a hard working
student that has been giving an exceptional opportunity.
“We always told her she can do anything she wanted to do, and choir has made our promise to her come true," her mother said.
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