About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2021)
4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com Wednesday, November 17,2021 DCHS Senior Jenna Hurst to compete in regional FCCLA competition with research on therapy dogs in schools Erica Jones Dawson County News DCHS Senior Jenna Hurst, left, stands with her FCCLA Advisor Lori Grant. Hurst is currently in the midst of preparing a portfolio and oral presen tation on therapy dogs to present during the FCCLA regional competition in February. By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com As students in schools across the country have come back to class following nationwide shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of them have experi enced ongoing anxiety, stress or other emotional changes because of all they’ve been through. When Dawson County High School senior Jenna Hurst’s education path way teacher and FCCLA advisor, Lori Grant, brought her dog Harley to class, Hurst noticed a positive change in the mood of every student the dog came in contact with. Now, Hurst has put in dozens of hours researching therapy dogs and other school system’s policies about them and is planning on presenting her research as her project for the region al FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) competition in February. Grant said Hurst’s idea for her project originally stemmed out of reading a book called “Out of My Mind"’ in her class. The book is about a girl who has cerebral palsy, and her fami ly gets her a dog. Prompted by the book, Grant’s class decided to do their own research on the different types of therapy dogs, emo tional support dogs and ser vice dogs. “It kinda led to a whole bunch of different projects, and after we learned what a therapy dog was and that they have them in school my class kept asking if we could get a therapy dog for our class,” Grant said. “So the next school year they kept coming up and asking about it, and I had gotten my own dog just for me to train as a service dog, and I ended up bringing him a few times and the kids loved it... but we didn’t have a policy or anything about therapy dogs and if teachers can bring them in.” Hurst said the system’s lack of a policy, whether permitting or not permitting therapy dogs in school, gave her the idea to research the topic further and to see what other school systems across the country say about it. “I started with looking at all the research we had gath ered from our Level 2 class and then we started getting different policies and things like that from different schools from all over — there were schools in Georgia, up north, all over,” Hurst said. “So I just started picking those apart, pulling together the similarities about how you have to have this kind of training, this kind of insurance, this kind of certificate, and so on.” Hurst has been research ing the topic and compiling information about it, and all of the research will culmi nate with a presentation in February at the FCCLA regional competition. During the competition, Hurst will present her proj ect and why the topic is important. According to Hurst, one of the biggest driving factors in her selecting therapy dogs as her project topic was her first-hand experience of see ing what a difference Grant’s dog could make in a day for all the students he came in contact with. “It just changed the atmo sphere,” Hurst said. “We could have just taken the worst test in that class, and everybody was happy. It changed everybody’s mood and brightened everybody’s day; it had a very positive impact on everybody regardless of how the day was going or what they had just done or anything like that.” In the competition, Hurst’s project will be under the category of a “Public Policy Advocate”, in which participants identify a con cern, research the topic, identify a target audience, form an action plan and advocate for the issue in an effort to positively affect a policy or law. As part of her project, Hurst presented her research to several members of the Dawson County Board of Education in hopes of the creation of a policy in the school system allowing ther apy dogs for the students. Grant said that she and Hurst are hopeful that the presentation might help lead to the implementation of such policies. “We’re just kind of wait ing with our fingers crossed to see what their decision is gonna be,” Grant said. “But we know they’re always open to what’s best for our students, so whatever they decide we’ll be okay with — they’re always really really good to listen and take feedback and I really have faith in whatever their deci sion is.” Hurst said one reason she’s hoping that policies might be created is that she plans on attending college and hopes to return to Dawson County High School as a Family and Consumer Science teacher to teach the same types of classes that Grant teaches now. She said that, if therapy dog policies were imple mented, she would love to be able to tell her students that she helped to make that happen. “I want to come back after I go to college and this is the class I want to teach, so that’s really helped kind of push through this project and the work it’s been,” Hurst said. “I know it’s gonna be a positive impact, but I also wanna be able to come back and use that as a part of my class; and be able to touch on that as a teacher and look at my students and say ‘you can do if you can do something to change somebody’.” Hurst and Grant added having therapy dogs in the school system would go hand-in-hand with the school’s improvement plan, which aims at catering to students’ social and emo tional learning as well as academic learning. “There’s kids even at the elementary school that just need that little bit of happi ness in their life, they need that little bit of light in their day,” Hurst said. “I have a practicum over at Robinson and I’m in first grade, and I even see over there that there’s certain kids that just need a little happiness in their life and a little some thing different in their day so that’s one of the things we really focused on.” Hurst is currently in the midst of preparing a portfo lio and a 10-minute oral presentation that she will present to a panel during the competition in February. She will be grad ed on her presentation by a rubric which, according to Grant, is very strict but she believes Hurst will do well despite the challenge. “The rubrics are pretty intricate and pretty detailed and pretty complicated so it can seem intimidating,” Grant said, “but Jenna is very capable; I can just hand it to her and she does it.” Should Hurst place in the regional competition, she’ll go on to the state competi tion in March and then hopes to move on to the national FCCLA competi tion, which will be in San Diego in the end of June. Grant said she’s proud of all the hard work Hurst has put into her project and that she can’t wait to continue supporting her in the upcoming competition. “She’s worked super hard on putting all of this togeth er; her presentation is out standing,” Grant said. “Her heart is so in it and it’s such an important thing for her; I’mjust so proud of her.” FROM 1A Veterans Day military but also because of everything he does in the community. “This veteran of the year has worked his tail off and is most deserving of the recognition,” Brown said. “He is a teacher, he is a vet eran, he’s just an all-around great guy.” Pamplin was surprised to have been selected for the award, but said that he would accept it in honor of all of his fellow veterans who had served to protect their country. “I don’t know that I did anything more than any body else, but I’ll accept it on behalf of you all,” Pamplin said upon receiv ing the award. The ceremony ended with musical selections by DCJHS Chorus Director Kevin Woody, who sang several pieces for the veter ans including a medley of the songs for each branch of the military. When each song was performed, the veterans who served in that branch of the military were asked to stand if able to be honored. Directly following the ceremony, many of the vet erans in attendance joined in on the annual Veterans Day parade. The parade, which was led off by Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson, included floats from several local groups, including the Veterans Affairs of Dawson County, K.A.R.E. for Kids and the DCHS FFA program. The DCHS Tiger Pride march ing band performed songs as they marched along the street, and the DCHS JROTC program carried the flags as they went. Dozens of onlookers cheered and waved as the parade went past. It wound out of the junior high school parking lot down highway 9, around the old courthouse and onto Allen Street before ending back in the junior high school park ing lot. Lighthouse Christian Academy: Veterans Day Celebration Lighthouse Christian Academy in Dawson County held a Veterans Day Celebration ceremony at 1 p.m. on Nov. 11, open to all local veterans and their families. The celebration included musical selections by the kindergarten and first through sixth grade chorus, the posting of the colors, recognition of each military branch and speeches by two guest speakers. The ceremony began with the presentation and posting of the colors by four members of the Lumpkin County High School JROTC. Attendees participated in the Pledge of Allegiance and listened to the National Anthem sung by Frank Whitmire before a prayer by Lighthouse Baptist Church Pastor Charles Blackstock and a recognition of the special guests by LCA Principal Dewey Moye. In his welcome and prayer, Blackstock thanked the veterans in attendance for their service and said that holding a ceremony for them is the least that the school could do. “We’re so thankful that we could take the time to rightly honor and recognize our veterans and we appre ciate you joining us today,” Blackstock said to the vet erans in attendance. “We’re so thankful that you’ve taken the time out of your day for us to do what is not only appropriate, but is the Erica Jones Dawson County News Lighthouse Christian Academy Principal Dewey Moye speaks during the school's Veterans Day Celebration on Nov. 11. patriotic and noble thing for us to do. We greatly appre ciate all the veterans have done and what they mean to us.” Following the opening remarks and prayer, the vet erans in attendance were recognized and asked to stand if able to indicate what branch of the military they had served in. The song for each of the five branches played, and the veterans who had served in each branch stood up proudly as their songs played. Moye then added his thanks and appreciation to Blackstock’s earlier remarks, telling the students in attendance how impor tant the service of veterans is. “We have Veterans Day to appreciate their service, and to understand that sac rifice has been made to live in this wonderful nation, to be able to go to church, to believe in Christ and live a life that is productive,” Moye said. The LCA kindergarten chorus and first through sixth grade chorus then sang two songs to the veter ans and other audience members. The two special guest speakers were Colonel Tom Palmer, retired commander of the Corps of Cadets at the University of North Georgia, and Colonel Paul Wingo, the immediate past president of the Military Officers Association of Georgia. Both colonels spoke about the importance of Veterans Day and of remembering those who have served to protect our country and our freedom. The ceremony ended with a moment of silence and Taps before a reception for the veterans and their families. Fresh Cut Fraser Firs Cut your own Cypress or Pine, & fresh cut Fraser Firs! Handmade wreaths! 276 Woodland Lane, Dahlonega (4 miles North of the traffic light at Walmart) Hours: Tues-Fri: 3pm - Dark Sat: 10am - Dark Sun: 1pm - Dark Closed Monday CASH OR CHECK PREFERRED ? i n Dawson County Humane Society a no kill shelter Doggy Spotlight We don’t have much information on them yet because they are still fairly new, but these two are a bonded pair. The were found cuddled up to one another. Wraith is very sweet and very smart. All she wants is to love and be loved. She does well with cats and does not seem to be rough. She lets Fangs get in her face and do whatever she wants. Wraith can walk well on a leash but since she has been here, she has become more excitable when being taken on a walk. She is definitely more of a submissive type. Fangs is not the most outgoing kitten, she is more od a “lay out in the sun and chill” type of gal. Both of these pets are estimated to be about 8 months old. For more information contact the Dawson County Humane Society 706-265-9160 | 633 Martin Road, Dawsonville adjacent to the Rock Creek Sports Complex Visit our RESALE SHOP & BOUTIQUE benefits the Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. | 54 S. Lumpkin Campground Rd. Humane Society AM Collision Specialists 706-216-0992 103 Industrial Park Road, Dawsonville Bradley M. Maple CPA, PC 706-216-2362 2390 Thompson Road Suite 100 Dawsonville Dawsonville Veterinary Hospital 706-265-8381
