Finals week can be stressful for students for various reasons. To help students with finals anxiety, the library brought therapy dogs on Dec. 16 and Dec. 17.

The dogs were from Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy, an organization that specializes in certifying therapy dogs. Deni Olsen and her dog Dolly attended the event at the library. Dolly became a therapy dog fairly recently and it took her about a year to get certified. Olsen describes how she has seen therapy dogs help students manage their stress and have even helped her personally.

“I think [therapy dogs] distract them [students] and make them forget what they’re worried about for a few minutes and give the brain a chance to rest and think about something else… I think they’re [therapy dogs] effective because they work for me, so if I’m feeling stressed about something and I’m petting a dog I know it works for me,” Olsen said.

According to librarian Vicky Pietrus, this was not the first time therapy dogs have been in the library, and it’s a longstanding tradition that is very popular with students.

“The therapy dogs have been a long standing tradition in the library, our secretary arranges it at the end of every school year…It’s the most popular program each year, students come back over and over again, because they’re so excited, I think it’s really good this time of year because they’re so stressed due to finals,” Pietrus said.

The idea was successful and many students wish that the library had therapy dogs more often and not only during finals week.

“I think it’s a phenomenal idea, matter of fact I think they should have it more weeks, not just finals week,” Senior Isshaq Yousfi said.

Olsen also believes that schools should begin getting therapy dogs more frequently to help their students with stress management, not only during finals week.

“I think it’s great, there’s no downside to it,” Olsen said.

Pietrus also mentioned that the library only brings therapy dogs during finals week to help maintain a quiet study environment.

“The therapy dogs come to other parts of the school, but [the library] keeps it to only the end of the semester, so the rest of the time we have a quiet and focused learning environment,” Pietrus said.

Yousfi described how he enjoyed the therapy dogs and how they helped him deal with pre-final worries.

“The [therapy dogs] were wonderful, they’re great to have here, great destresser and it really brightened up my day,” Yousfi said.

Yousfi also thought the dogs were a great alternative for dealing with stress compared to what he used to do for stress management.

“Usually I play video games, watch TV and hang out with my friends, but the dogs were a different method and I think that I enjoyed that much more,” Yousfi said.