With the start of the new school year comes many challenges and stresses for many students. The SOS Club, headlined by Mr. Switek is looking to combat these issues by bringing in a trained therapy dog to interact with members during this difficult time. 

“I’m excited for that, I feel like we could use it especially with the SATs coming up, and I thought it was a good idea for the club.” said Jazilin Vargas, Co-president of Woodbridge High Schools SOS Club.

Therapy dogs are dogs trained to provide comfort and support to people in various stressful settings. They are used in places such as hospitals, nursing homes, and even schools to help calm individuals down. 

As the school year progresses students find themselves in many stress inducing situations whether it be the intensity of school work or grades. For seniors especially college is a big stressor this semester and for the Woodbridge High School community SAT’s and PSAT’s can be incredibly nerve wracking. Bringing in a therapy dog seems like a step in the right direction when it comes to countering stress in school, a step the SOS club is proudly taking. 

Woodbridge High School’s SOS club has been a part of the school’s large number of clubs for over five years now. Despite this, the experience of a therapy dog is new to the clubs members, the idea actually coming from club director Mr. Switek himself. 

“I saw that other schools in the district have done it and my son’s school brought therapy dogs in and he said there was a huge demand so I thought that I would do that for our club.”  said Mr. Switek

There is much to be learned from a therapy dog coming into our school and although at the moment the experience is limited to only prominent members in the club, progress can lead to it being opened up to the entire school. The SOS club is providing an amazing opportunity for its members to become further educated on the topic of therapy dogs as well as a hands on experience that can relieve their in school stresses. 

Jazilin Vargas summed it up perfectly, “ I hope more people join and volunteer and donate because we do do fun things when we can.”