As midterm stresses begin to fill the air, the Los Medanos College Library hosts its semesterly de-stressors for students with Hug Pack.
Throughout the semester, both during midterms and finals, the library hosts The Hug Pack, a therapy dog organization committed to reducing student stress during any major test timelines.
The event will take place on Oct. 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the library entrance.
It will also feature chess, checkers, and coloring pages that are available for students.
The organizer of the event and librarian Kim Wentworth, said “There will only be one dog this time due to the other two not being available.”
Ralph Kapostins and Dolce the dog will be returning during the event, after their visit last semester.
At the last Hug Pact event, there was a rough estimate of 30-50 students who attended. Wentworth said that The Hug Pack is normally invited on Tuesdays during midterm and finals weeks due to most people being in the library.
“Our students are very busy and they work very hard. So it’s nice for them to take 5 minutes to pet a dog and relax,” said Wentworth.
For student Kimora Mitchell, this will be her first time attending the upcoming event.
“I am very excited. It will be very relaxing and it will be nice to pet a dog,” she said. “I recommend people to attend because it would be really nice to be around dogs.”
Student Library Clerk Akila Briggs attended the event last semester, and remembers how each animal from Hug Pack was very sweet and well-behaved around her.
“I loved when they were here. Sometimes we get new dogs but, mostly repeating.” Briggs said.
Briggs also added that Dolce doesn’t care about his owner’s signals and would rather focus on the people patting him.
Briggs recommended for people to attend also referring to it as a “dopamine-inducing event.”
“There has been a lot of research about animals helping people relax… bonding with the dogs and having a warm fuzzy experience,” said Briggs. “It’s also a mental vacation and we do have books about animals helping with stress and people who are interested can look at those.”
