Andrea Rosebrock 
At the Edison Academy in Fairfax County, students get much more than the three “R”s; reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmatic, they get hands on training to go out in the real world and for students enrolled in the two-year Animal Sciences program also get to help foster and shelter dogs get ready to find new homes. One Saturday a month students help to bath and groom dogs in foster care at area shelters and rescues.
“It doesn’t seem like a lot at first to just clean a dog,” said senior Emily Patnode, 18. “But if you were to go to a shelter, you’d pick the clean dogs first.”
“The biggest thing you see is that the dogs that are hit by cars or are left by their owners, they’re not afraid of you,” Patnode said. “They’re so ready to forgive.”
The Saturday dog washing began last year as a way to help students gain community service credits for school, teacher Karen Nestlerode said.
“I had a couple of kids that needed a community service project,” she said. “They wanted to raise money, but I said, ‘You guys have skills. You should put them to use.’ “
The dogs have their nails trimmed, ears cleaned, are bathed and groomed and the program has met with a high rate of success in higher adoption rates for dogs.
“Obviously it’s not just that they look good,” Nestlerode said. “Some of them need haircuts because they’re so badly matted. And they need to smell good and not all doggy.”
Not only is the program good for the dogs, it’s good for the students too, a big win all around.
“This class helps me interact more with animals, learn how they react to others and each other,” said junior Crystal Ronan, 17, from Lee High School. “I love animals.”
What an excellent program! Aside from the fact that this will help to find more home for more dogs desperate to find a home, it will teach these youths so much. It will teach them to love and care about animals and also give them some real hands on experience to go out into the real world today right out of a high school environment which is as far as many students have a chance to go. Big kudos to the students and everyone who made a program like this a reality!
It’s an excellent program. Anyone who works with high school and even the upper middle school grades should set up a program like this. There is not a lack of shelters or rescue groups in any area of the country. It would teach our kids a lot about respect, kindness and life – and as an intervention program to combat cruelty. Especially the ones we see at the hands of kids. Just think of the lives it would save, animal AND human.
Andrea, I agree 100% with what you said. Teens have enough pressures on them in this day and age, and I really believe they have forgotten or never even have known what the companionship of an animal can do to their mental stimulation and also their deflated egos. This will teach them that they are “not just a dog” – that these animals have feelings too.
Going to mention this to a couple teachers I know at the local high school. The love the animals can give these teens is far more than what we humans give them.
What an awesome program. This is great and we should be doing this at all of our schools!
Good job!