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To relieve some major angst, part of Gunn High School’s campus in Palo Alto was turned into a petting zoo Friday afternoon.
More than 100 students gathered at the campus outdoor amphitheater to interact with goats, chickens, bunnies and guinea pigs to help take their minds off what lies ahead. After all, finals begin on Dec. 17 and many seniors may learn as early as next week whether they’ve been selected by their coveted colleges.
“This is a space for them to relax,” said senior Meghna Singh, co-president of Reach Out. Care. Know. (ROCK), a student club that held the event. Its mission is to end the stigma of openly discussing mental health. “Students are thinking about the future and finals … so this is a really great time to bring the animals,” Singh said.
Amy White, a freshman, petted a chicken in her lap and tried not to think about taking her first set of final exams as a high-schooler.
“I have so much homework over the weekend, but right now I’m petting a chicken,” Amy said. “It’s so relaxing.”
ROCK, which formed in 2009 after a cluster of students from Gunn died by suicide, holds about a dozen activities throughout the year to help classmates better connect with one another, as well as with their teachers and parents. This is the second time the club has partnered with Animal Assisted Happiness, a Sunnyvale-based mobile barnyard, to help students relax before finals. ROCK is giving $350 from donations to Animal Assisted Happiness to help it go to other schools.
“The twin goals (of ROCK) are as much connectedness as possible and events to promote community building,” said Paul Dunlap, a Gunn English teacher who has been faculty adviser for the club since it formed.
“I would say that almost everything we do now is with an awareness of that part of our history,” Dunlap said, referring to the suicide clusters.
In an effort to get more boys involved, the group has live-streamed Golden State Warriors games with nachos and prize drawings, where conversations have touched on NBA players who have dealt with mental issues. Of about 30 current ROCK members, just four are boys, Meghna said.
The club also has placed painted stones with positive messages around campus and created wristbands written with resources such as the crisis text line and the three-year-old Wellness Center at Gunn that brings in service dogs for students to interact with during lunchtime on Thursdays.
