Colleges are wrapping up terms before the holidays, a stressful time of finals and end-of-year project deadlines.
YPR’s Orlinda Worthington took part in a doggone-good way to relieve stress for students at MSU-B.
Savannah and her canine buddy Sierra, both golden retrievers, are decked out in jingle bells for their visit at Montana State University Billings.
They are here to shed some love, licks and a little hair on the students who stop by.
The event is sponsored by HEROES, a peer-led student organization that provides wellness events for the campus community. Sydney Norwood is an advisor with the group that teams up with Pet Partners to bring dogs to campus twice a semester.
“It’s a really good time for students to kind of focus on their wellness and anxiety levels, and this is a good time for them to find that relief in it and kind of get a little vibe of being home with their dogs. Especially students who are far from home and don't get to see their dogs every day,” Norwood said.
Ricky is one of those students missing his cockerdoodle Charlie.
“I just got out of class and I really wanted to pet them because I missed them last time ‘cuz it was during a lab. I just love dogs so much so I was so happy I could come pet them before they left today,” he said.
Sheila volunteers with Pet Partners, a group that shares therapy animals throughout the community.
“We generally tend to come when it's stressful, during midterms and during finals. It’s just a break, even if it's just for a few minutes. It gets their minds off of classes. Then the kids get a chance to talk about their own dogs. So we see lots of pictures of everybody's own dog and then they get to talk about whether they're eager to go home and so forth,” she said.
Snuggles, sniffs and a little shedding making the semester-end stress a little merrier and bright.
In Billings, I’m Orlinda Worthington.