Science Week brings Dogs, Donuts & Don’t Stress
This year, the College of Science invited dogs to interact with students for the Dogs, Donuts & Don’t Stress event.
It was part of Science Week, which ran from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3.
Jaxton Winder, the senator for the College of Science, was the head of planning for the event.
“Science Week is a week that is dedicated to the College of Science to help bring awareness to our existence, the students that we have as well as the opportunities that we offer,” Winder said. “All the different departments — all the different clubs — we try to have events that kind of highlight all of those.”
USU students visit booths in the Taggart Student Center on Nov. 1.
The Dogs, Donuts & Don’t Stress event was a chance for all students to relax and recharge with resources provided for students to reach out to if they needed help.
Bekah Grant, a member of the College of Science Council, helped to plan the event.
“We just catered to helping students find the emotional and other support systems that they need,” Grant said.
Therapy dogs were present at the event, along with student resources, included Planned Parenthood, SAAVI, CAPS, Campus Recreation and the Queer Student Alliance.
“This event in particular, the Dogs, Donuts & Don’t Stress, is more about general student advocacy,” Winder said. “Some College of Science resources such as our tutoring centers. We also have a bunch of other resources that are available to students here in Utah State and also in Logan.”
The council took the time to plan and host the event for fellow students whose course loads are reaching their peak, providing a brief break from homework and midterms.
“College is a stressful time,” Grant said. “That’s kind of how we related it to just wanting to do something to give back to students in our college.”
The therapy dogs were provided by Utah Pet Partners.
“They’re an organization that provides therapy animals for different events,” Winder said. “They bring these animals to hospitals, hospice care units, events — they have a bunch of trained therapy animals that are registered service animals, and they provide them just as the general public good.”
Though Science Week is over, there are still ways to get involved with the College of Science, or any college community on campus.
“How people can get involved is if they join the council,” Grant said. “I think that’s given me a lot of purpose in school and finding peers that are like-minded, wanting to help out their fellow students by being on the council and making a little bit more of a direct impact.”
Both Winder and Grant said these college communities help students grow individually, make connections in their field and get involved with campus events.