Students at Millville Senior High and Memorial High School have welcomed a new volunteer to their schools this year thanks to Principal Stephanie DeRose and her two-year-old French Bulldog, Lily.
DeRose and her 11-year-old son adopted Lily in October 2017 and put her through obedience training. Because she did so well in her training, DeRose was told that Lily should become a certified therapy dog.
Lily went through Alliance Therapy Dog training and started out this past spring spending her weekends at a retirement home in Ocean City. Now, she spends her weekdays roaming the halls of the high schools, being pet by kids and teachers, and cheering everyone up.
“She just got her yearbook photo taken and attended class meetings with all the kids at both schools. She did the health career classes last week, she was part of a unit they did about pet therapy and she was in the presentation,” said DeRose.
Through Lily’s training, she has been taught many skills to give the students the best possible experience with her. Therapy dogs must be able to tolerate many hands petting them a day or even at once. Lily is also great with showing love and affection to students who might be struggling, DeRose said.
“She visits the Special Education classes, our students with developmental disabilities, some of our emotionally disturbed students as well." DeRose said "She is also on call, so if a counselor has someone who is upset they will ask for Lily and she sits and helps the kids. It has been really rewarding already.”
Although she only visits each school once a week, Lily has already helped students during her first full month on the job. She is available to every student whether it is upon request by a student or counselor, or just while walking through school hallways during class changes.
“I would say each day she visits with maybe 3-5 students," said DeRose. "She worked with some new students last week that had some transition issues because they wanted to go home and didn’t want to be in school anymore. We had a student who was angry about some things. I asked if they liked dogs and told them to go in a room and sit on the floor and play with Lily.”
Students are not the only ones who benefit from love and Lily’s attention. Teachers also use their free time to take advantage of some one-on-one interaction with the therapy pup.
“They have really responded well and the kids really love her and she’s even been a big morale booster for staff because they want to play with her for decompression. On their off-block they always ask for her to destress,” said DeRose.
Therapy dogs have been seen in places such as the Florida schools after the mass shootings in 2018. These dogs were brought in to provide comfort and emotional support for students coming back to school after such a tragic event. Studies, published by on the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, have shown human-animal interactions are beneficial in many different ways including mood, fear and anxiety, along with mental and physical health.
“One of the things, I always try to relay their behavior through her so I tell them they might scare her which helps to soften their language," DeRose explained. "It does teach the kids to be calm and quiet around her and in the hallways, which is a great thing…she is very loving so if there is a kid that’s sad she wants to give them kisses and make them feel better. She’s a great listener and if you need to just sob and get it out she’s great for that.”
School is not the only place Lily spends her time. She also volunteers at Wesley Manor in Ocean City, when she gets some free time on the weekends.
“I really believe in service and I want my son to understand the importance of service as well," said DeRose.
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