Bringing pets into the school environment can be exciting, but also a very tedious process. It takes careful planning, approval, and lots of time. Pets in the school community can allow students to engage more in lessons, or give them a break from the stress that school can cause.
Here at West there are currently 2 pets: the sturgeon in environmental teacher Mary Brisbois’s classroom, and Gus in the library who is taken care of by librarian Genevieve Minor. Both pets are in the school for different reasons; the sturgeon supports learning in classes like Environmental Science, while Gus supports students as a therapy dog on certain days of the week. Although both animals had to go through a process of approval, it was different between the two.
“Even though he was certified in November, [it] took me six months to get school board approval. It was not an easy process. I was the only person with a dog, but I definitely was in that initial group with the current school board policy. I had to really fight to be liked, I think most people would have given up because it was just a lot,” Minor said.
The process of getting Gus started when Minor began looking for a breeder that was known for having even tempered dogs. Minor did this after former principal Joe Esper reached out to her bringing up the idea of having a service dog in the library, which excited her, though she was unsure of if she would be getting a dog through someone else, or through TCAPS. This led her to getting Gus, and starting the process to get him certified as a therapy dog. Gus was trained since he was a puppy, a while before he got approved by the school. He went through lots of special training with Minor in order to make sure he can handle certain situations.
“In a therapy situation, especially with kids. If I were to take Gus to the library and little kids were to read to him, a little kid might reach out and grab his paw and he cannot bite them or react in a certain way that’s gonna scare somebody,” Minor said.
In a high school setting there will most likely not be as intense situations for Gus compared to if he was in a hospital or an elementary school working, but he provides more emotional support for staff and students. Addie DeGood, student governor, has had many interactions with Gus while he has been a therapy dog.
“I think it’s really helpful because I think animals are very therapeutic and I think it lets people take a break from the melancholy of schooling. It brings people joy,” DeGood said.
While the process for Gus to be certified was extensive for time and materials, the process for the new sturgeon for Brisbois was a little over two years long. Brisbois, along with fellow science teacher Kevin Cram, received an email from Sean Leask, a fish and wildlife biologist, from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
“The tribe is funding these projects to help repopulate the sturgeon population through land use. We have polluted the rivers and damming and putting blocks like barriers, the sturgeon haven’t been able to get back to their home river to spawn. The quality of the water in the river has changed because of logging and development and so has their habitat. Basically we’re raising them to try to increase the population,” Brisbois said.
In addition to helping increase the sturgeon population for ecological and spiritual values, having a sturgeon in the classroom provides students with a real example of things they are learning in Environmental Science. DeGood is a student who takes AP Environmental Science. DeGood, also a part of Senate, has begun to collaborate with Brisbois outside of the classroom.
“Ms. Brisbois has asked for a collaboration with Student Senate. We plan to do some sort of fundraiser in relation to naming the fish. So we’re planning to do a fundraiser where you can pay, donate a few dollars to enter a name and then put in a vote on the names,” DeGood said.
