Coco was out of school for the week recovering from minor surgery, so Molly, our other Bright Spot Therapy Dog at Robert E. Melican Middle School, took over the keyboard to report on the helpful things she did for the students her mom, Julie, works with as a school guidance counselor.
By the way, not only is Molly good at her job as a therapy dog, she’s so cute and adorable that we chose her photo as one of the two cover dogs for our annual publication, Bright Spot News. Every time I look at Molly’s photo, I smile!
Molly has plenty to report…
Wow…I get to write the blog post this week. Pretty cool!
I had a great week at school. I was here on Tuesday and Friday and got to see lots of students. I’m really enjoying the warmer weather because that means more walks with students! On Tuesday, I spend the lunch period with a sixth grade student. I know I’m probably not supposed to pick favorite students, but between you and me, this boy is probably my best student friend. After he ate his lunch, we had a great walk together outside with my mom, Julie, who is the boy’s guidance counselor. Toward the end of the walk, the boy decided to pick up the pace and run to the entrance of the school with me. For a second I forgot that I’m kind of an old lady, and I galloped alongside him. It was lots of fun. When we got back into school, the boy said to me and Mom, That was the best lunch I’ve ever had.
Also on Tuesday, I got to see a student who has been having trouble attending school. He misses a lot of school days but whenever he is here, he asks about spending time with one of the therapy dogs. As soon as he saw me in Mom’s office, he came right over and sat down on the floor next to me. He gave me a lot of love as he talked with Mom about how his day was going. Mom and the student made a plan to check in with me every Tuesday and Thursday. I can tell I’m going to like this student a lot, and I really hope I can help him have more success in school.
I usually go to school on Thursdays, but this week I switched to Friday because of a conflict with my mom’s schedule. On Thursday night when my mom came home from school, she told me that a lot of my Thursday student friends were asking where I was. It makes me feel really special knowing that so many people notice and miss me when I’m not in school! My mom says the work I do is very important and makes a difference to a lot of people. As a rescue dog who didn’t feel very loved early on in my life, it sure does feel awesome to know how many people love me now.
On Friday, I took a walk with two very nice girls who gave me a lot of love and attention. On our walk, they talked about how it’s hard sometimes being students whose first language is not English. It seems like they have to work very hard to keep up with the work. Thankfully, they have very nice teachers and classmates, but sometimes their peers misunderstand them or forget that they are still learning. I can tell they like talking to me, though. One of the girls said it is really nice talking to a dog in school because dogs don’t ever judge or try to correct her. She’s right.
My mom had to have a couple of difficult conversations with students this week, mostly about not so good behavioral choices they were making. Mom says that those conversations can be hard, but having me there makes things a lot easier for her and the students. For example, one student came down and pet me while Mom was talking to him about how he was treating another student. Mom thinks the student liked having me there as a distraction. He listened to Mom and answered her when she asked him questions, but he was looking at me most of the time. I’m glad I don’t have to have those tough conversations! Compared to Mom and her students, I think I have it pretty easy! As one student reminded me this week, Molly really has a good life. She gets to come to school, get loved by everyone, and sleep on the floor. I want to trade places with her! I think I’ll stay just where I am, thank you very much! ~Molly