With finals week underway, many students can find the time stressful.
But at Slippery Rock University, officials are trying out a new way to help students handle the stress during this time of year. In the spring semester, SRU’s Success Coaching team introduced “Coaching with a Pup.”
It gives students an opportunity to sign up for an academic coaching session while having a dog present. Students say they enjoy having the dog around while learning ways to better handle the college workload.
“One of the reasons why I came to SRU is because how much people here care about you as a student,” freshman student Abbie Kugler said. She met with her peer coach who suggested a training session with Hamish, a golden retriever. “My grades were tanking, and I knew that I needed help.”
“Because I’m a dog lover, this made me feel less stressed and I feel like I can relax a little bit more,” Kugler said. “It’s also nice to have another student helping me as a peer coach. A student is more relatable and might better understand what I’m going through.”
SRU officials say the coaching pup another tool the university uses in order to help their students succeed.
