Pet therapy
Students surround Cobi in SUL on Dec. 6.
Wagging their tails and greeting stressed faces, therapy dogs from Power Paws for Kids were brought to Hammond campus on Dec. 6 as part of the Counseling Center’s efforts to help reduce students’ stress during finals.
Ryan Parsons-Rozycki, staff therapist and coordinator for outreach and development program, credited Mari Chapa, junior nursing student, for the event happening.
“She worked hard to bring the dogs to campus. It was her tireless effort to get the organization to come that it paid off,” Parsons-Rozycki said.
Chapa said the idea first came to her when she was working on a project with Power Paws for Kids in her English class. Her group needed to find a deliverable for the project and wanted to bring in therapy dogs; however, her attempts to were initially blocked.
After the semester finished, she still wanted to bring the dogs in so she worked with Jamie Zweig, clinical assistant professor of nursing, to make it happen in the fall last year.
“It was successful and the university saw the dogs were really calm and it helped the students so it was great,” Chapa said.
Chapa said she is proud to have her hard work paid off.
“I think it definitely impacts the students, watching their eyes light up when they didn’t expect dogs on campus that day is proof. Plus after they leave they seem happier and not as high strung,” Chapa said.
