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The 14 therapy dogs that provided unconditional love and support to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and staff were honored with a full-page spread of school photos in the 2018-2019 yearbook.
A pack of very important dogs have been a source of unwavering love, support, and therapy at the high school following the shooting on Valentine’s Day in 2018 that took the lives of 17 students and staff.
In addition to the shooting, the dogs have been there to help students struggling with the loss of two Parkland students to suicides this spring, several traumatizing false fire alarms, the first anniversary of the tragic shooting, news that their beloved principal was leaving, and other school shootings across the country that serve as a continual reminder of the massacre surviving students and staff lived through just last year.
A couple of therapy dogs even dressed up and attended prom!
twitter can be toxic sometimes so here’s a break from that. the therapy dogs at my school are going to prom together🥺 pic.twitter.com/L6MZtF0Z2V
— alexandra✧*ೃ༄ (@alexandrasullx) May 4, 2019
The dogs are so important to the school that last October, on picture day, a teacher suggested including the dogs in the yearbook.
“I told one of their handlers about it and next thing I know I had 15 dogs in the room,” Ms. Lerner, an English and journalism teacher and the yearbook adviser said. “We sat them up on chairs, they were smiling for the camera. It was the greatest day of my life.”
The yearbook’s theme this year is “It All Depends.” The goal of the book is to highlight the growth of the community and how it has transformed since the life-changing massacre last year.