Newspaper Page Text
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