If you are are a dog lover, then you probably know the struggle of wanting to pet every dog that you see. And if you are in a room with dogs, then you probably lose your mind from all the cuteness. Well, Sept. 24 through 27, CKI made every dog lover’s dream come true.
Just for a refresher, Circle K International, or CKI, is a club on campus that is unique in a way that the club isn’t specifically college based. As the name suggests, it is an international club that works together to donate to different organizations. This year, CKI is donating proceeds to the WASH program to help get clean water accessibility in Haiti. As different events are free of charge, CKI hopes to bring in awareness about their club having social events, such as the Puppy Social, to get more members involved with the club. All the money that the club raises through fundraiser go to the WASH program.
Connor Doolen, member of the CKI Social Committee, provided more information about the exciting event: “The idea was made by the social committee, and at first, we did not think it would be possible to do. We decided to give it a try.” They did have a backup event planned in case the dogs went south. But success was in the hands of CKI, as they were able to organize and plan the event accordingly and successfully. “We asked faculty and staff members that we knew who had one or two dogs,” said Doolen.
Dr. Mark Armstrong, Lynn Armstrong, Dr. Jonathan Micancin, Dr. Ed Zalisko and Dr. Karen Dillon took part and made the event possible. There were five dogs in total: Jack, Black, Zoey and Daisy and Penny, respectively. Since the event was a week long, some of the pooches were brought in twice, such as Black and Jack. It was up to the professors which day or days they could bring in their dogs and what time worked best for them.
One burning question that many students are probably wondering: will this happen again? “It is very possible that we could have events like this in the future, probably closer to finals,” said Doolen. The best way to de-stress from finals week is to pet dogs, right? But another event like this will probably not be this year, according to Doolen.
The dogs seemed to really enjoy themselves alongside the students that were able to join. On the 24th, Black and Jack were able to kick off the event. Penny did a solo shift on Tuesday; on Wednesday, Black, Zoey, Jack and Lucy all made an appearance; and finally on Thursday, Daisy concluded the event. The students really seemed to get some stress relief therapy through petting dogs. The pups all seemed happy to be around new people and the people seemed very pleased to be around man’s best friend.