This past semester, BSG hosted Destress Fest week for students as a way to take a break and relax from the strain of finals week. Destress Fest officially kicked off on December 5th with Therapy Dog Tuesday. In collaboration with Opportunity Scholars and First Ascent programs, students were able to visit Business Career Success (BCS) and unwind with therapy dogs from Utah Pet Partners and muffins.
Students also took a survey on how they felt before and after using the therapy dogs.
Students were asked to rank how they felt before using the therapy dogs, with the rating system being 1 – 10. Before using the dogs, the average student rated themselves a 4.98. Not surprisingly, students rated themselves at 9.07 after the event. Students also rated Therapy Dog Tuesday as a 4.9 out of 5, with many respondents requesting another event with more dogs in the future.
As expected, the therapy dogs lowered stress levels and boosted the happiness of students. One individual commented, “it was so great to have the therapy dogs! They really brightened my day and they reminded me of my dog back home.” Another stated that “this was the best thing that has happened in the business complex in a while.”
We want to give a special thanks to Business Career Success for sharing their space for this event! We also want to give a big thank you to the volunteers with Utah Pet Partners for helping make this event a success!
Jordan Fairbourn