Presidential pup: Laurel Middle School's therapy dog spreads kindness during election season
LAUREL — As all the eyes are on election results, one candidate at Laurel Middle School is running— and jumping and rolling— through his campaign with kindness.
He also sheds.
Mr. Jefferson is a three-year-old English yellow lab that has been a therapy dog at the middle school for a year.
On days such as Election Day, Jefferson is there to calm nerves and bring joy to students and staff.
"All throughout the day our teachers have been showing us the voting so far, the live voting count," said Laurel Middle School student Collin Chouinard Tuesday afternoon.
Chouinard was one of many students wearing a "Jefferson for President 2024" shirt.
"We had a student come to me maybe two months ago. And he had made a Jefferson for President poster just for fun. And it got my mind moving about, wouldn't it be fun to do something in school to get the kids involved, to think about elections," said Amy James, the U.S. History teacher. "(It brings) awareness to the election, but also awareness to kindness."
Another teacher designed the shirts with Jefferson's face, then they partnered with Dynamic Designs to create the shirts. The screen printing shop gave the shirts to James at cost, so they were able to purchase as many as they needed. James said over 300 shirts were sold.
"He is definitely something that pulls students together. It doesn't matter how much money their parents make. It doesn't matter where they are on the social status of school," James said.
Any student who wanted a shirt was able to get one, whether it was donated or sold at cost by Dynamic Designs.
"All I know is I found one of the papers for the shirt and I filled it out, brought it back here. It (the shirt) was only $8.50," Chouinard said.
James is the owner of this presidential pup, and as she spent much of Tuesday teaching her students more about the electoral college, they sat at their desks hoping just one state might pull for Mr. Jefferson for president.
"It's fun, because the kids are like, we think he's going to win. It's just adorable," James said. "Everyone loves this dog, and the dog loves everyone."
