Laurel Middle School's therapy dog is spreading kindness during election season

LAUREL – While all eyes are on the election results, a candidate at Laurel Middle School is running – and jumping and rolling – through his campaign with kindness.

He also throws.

Presidential pup: Laurel Middle School's therapy dog spreads kindness during election season

Mr. Jefferson is a three-year-old English yellow lab who has been a therapy dog for a year in high school.

On days like Election Day, Jefferson is there to calm nerves and bring joy to students and staff.

“All day long our teachers have been showing us the votes so far, the live vote count,” Laurel Middle School student Collin Chouinard said Tuesday afternoon.

Chouinard was one of several students wearing a “Jefferson for President 2024” shirt.

“A student came to me maybe two months ago. And he had made a Jefferson for President poster just for fun. And it got me thinking: wouldn’t it be nice to do something at school to get the kids involved, to think about elections,” said Amy James, the American history teacher. “(It brings) awareness for the elections, but also awareness for kindness.”

Another teacher designed the shirts with Jefferson’s face and then worked with Dynamic Designs to create the shirts. The screen printing company gave the shirts to James at cost so they could buy as many as they needed. James said more than 300 shirts have been sold.

“He’s definitely someone who brings students together. It doesn’t matter how much money their parents make. It doesn’t matter where they are in terms of social status in school,” James said.

Any student who wanted a shirt could get one, whether donated or sold at cost by Dynamic Designs.

“All I know is I found one of the papers for the shirt, filled it out and brought it here. It (the shirt) only cost $8.50,” Chouinard said.

James is the owner of this presidential pup, and while she spent much of Tuesday teaching her students about the Electoral College, they sat at their desks hoping that just one state would put Mr. Jefferson up for president .

“It’s fun because the kids think, we think he’s going to win. It’s just cute,” James said. “Everyone loves this dog, and the dog loves everyone.”