WELLS — “I’d like to think the things I’ve overcome will show I can accomplish anything.”

These measured words of optimism come from Wells senior Jamie LaPointe, who will march with around 115 of her classmates on Warrior Memorial Field to graduate this weekend. For Jamie, however, graduation wasn’t a forgone conclusion.

When LaPointe was 15, she was taken out of the custody of her mother and placed with a friend’s family, the Lambs. During her time with her mother through freshman year, she says, it was difficult to focus on school.

“It wasn’t a very healthy environment growing up,” LaPointe said. “I rarely went to school, never did homework ”“ only when I wanted to.”

She cared much more about her friends than school during her freshman year, and she doubted she’d graduate from high school ”“ much less go to college.

But she’s also been independent since childhood, and after turning things around sophomore year, she began thinking seriously about college. Now, as she takes her diploma, her path has been decided, as she was accepted to the University of Maine at Farmington, where she plans to study early childhood education.

LaPointe credits her older brother for providing guidance and making the right decisions that showed her how to handle the difficulties of high school. They were basically forced to be close, she said, when they were placed in care together, but they emerged closer than ever.

“My brother was always an A student. … He’s my biggest role model,” she said “We’ve been through a lot, grown a lot, overcome many, many things. We basically raised ourselves.”

Cheerleading also helped get her back on track. Up until that point, she had never been particularly active in extracurricular activities, but cheerleading gave her a supportive social structure and expanded her circle of friends.

“They helped me overcome (challenges) and welcomed me,” she said of the group. “It just kept getting better.”

While her brother remains a positive role model, she says she doesn’t need to follow in his footsteps once she graduates ”“ she’ll be doing her own thing at college, and she’s excited about that.

“I can’t wait to graduate. I’m really excited,” LaPointe said.