Dozens of Bismarck Legacy High School students formed a long line leading from the front doors of their high school to a play pen where a puppy and kitten were waiting to greet them. The students were attending a Mental Health Event led by their HOSA peers where students and staff de-stressed with animals from Furry Friends Rockin’ Rescue.
Aspen Schroeder is a junior at Legacy High School and a Health Occupations Students of America member. She says HOSA is a group of students that are interested in going into the medical field.
"This is kind of of the first major event of the year. A big thing that contributes to a lot of different health issues is stress, so the animals are here just as a relaxer because the start of the school year is a stressful time for most students."
HOSA Advisor, Joelean Lowman says she hopes the event will bring awareness to the need for more animal adoptions in Bismarck as well as bring joy to the students and teachers at the school.
"We obviously have a great turn out for this. Thankfully, some of our animals got adopted yesterday, so we didn't have as many animals as anticipated, but I definitely think that we're going to try to do something like this again because, even though people are waiting in line, we're seeing lots of smiles and lots of joy and that's amazing."