Students at Mountain Vista High School will have help de-stressing from final exams Wednesday and Thursday.
Two labradoodles have now been trained and certified as official therapy dogs. The idea surfaced in an English class at the high school last semester. Students raised $5,000 over the past few months to train and certify both dogs.
Jessica Wheeler, the English teacher who helped the students organize the fundraising efforts, said the therapy dogs have already helped many students who were having a difficult time this year.
In an email to 9NEWS, Wheeler said, "this has been an incredibly stressful year at Vista. In addition to the credible school shooting threat that has been covered by all local media, we also had one of our teachers pass away in January. This has been a rough year for students and staff here to say the least."
Both dogs are now insured and trained as therapy dogs by Prestige K9. They will make their official debut Wednesday and Thursday in the Therapy Dog Lounge, during final exams. It will be a treat in between tests for seniors.
The therapy dog program will be fully up and running next school year.
