Therapy dogs crowned homecoming royalty at Colorado's Evergreen High School
Homecoming in Evergreen, Colorado, has gone to the dogs. Meet Evergreen High School's first-ever canine homecoming king and queen: Polenta and Norene.
The school is honoring the two therapy dogs for supporting students and staff in the year since a student opened fire inside the school.
Canine companions Polenta and Norene have earned their crowns.
"Their duty is to lie [there] and just be pet and hang out," said Amy Wells, lead counselor at Evergreen High School.
With pristine attendance records, the pups arrive early and leave after the last bell.
"I stand in the front of the building every single morning with my principal, and we let the kids come up and pet them or just talk to them," said Wells.
"I just love seeing both their personalities. And they definitely reflect on me when I get to see them. I definitely am so much happier in a day," said Evergreen senior Quinn McEvers.
That happiness is exactly what Evergreen needed, after a tragic school shooting rocked the community one year ago.
"Just felt very vulnerable, you know. And being able to just see these dogs just made people want to pet them," said Evergreen senior Jackson Thomas. "Just like kind of release their anxiety."
Norene joined the school in January, and Polenta came in August. Evergreen's principal and lead counselor both trained to become handlers after seeing the impact other Canine Companions had on students in the wake of last year's tragedy.
"It just normalizes life in general," said Wells. "Research says that cortisol levels will calm down a little bit with a dog. I just notice, a lot of students that I've never actually talked to, and in my job here, they come up to me all the time now."
The dogs can be found in the counselor's office, walking the halls, or even giving moral support during tests.
"You don't need to talk about what's going on in your life or how something is affecting you. You can just get the love from the dogs, and it really helps," said McEvers.
"I light up whenever I see them because they're just so cute. I love dogs so much," said Thomas.
Norene and Polenta have made such an impact; a "puppy homecoming court" was created just for them.
"They brought so much joy to this school. Just to be able to have people come in with a welcoming smile and be able to pet them," said Thomas.
They ran uncontested and won in a landslide. And under the Friday night lights of the homecoming game, they assumed their rightful positions as king and queen.
"They make a difference in our community, and I think that it's really great that they're getting honored for that because they are a lot bigger than just dogs. They're really a part of our community," said McEvers.
"For us, after last year, when we would have all the dogs in the school, it felt really good to us as staff. And then, now being able to provide that for our students on a daily basis, it's definitely impactful," said Wells.
Two students from each class were also crowned as homecoming king and queen, and Evergreen won their homecoming game against Standley Lake High School.
