DENVER — This week, teachers and staff members at Lowry Elementary School are getting their classrooms ready for students as the Denver Public Schools school year begins next week.
Principal Dr. Annie Larkin, who has served as principal for five years, said she is looking forward to building on last year's academic success.
“We're coming off of a year of our highest reading scores for kindergarten through second graders. So, I'm excited to continue that momentum for our school this year,” Larkin said.
Lowry Elementary School Kindergarten Teacher Danielle Hessing said she’s proud of the school’s success and looks forward to helping some of the newest members of the school community adjust to the classroom.
“I think everybody has first day jitters and first week jitters, and I am just so excited to meet our new students and to welcome them into our community and into our home away from home, which is our classrooms,” Hessing said. “A lot of our students are coming into our kindergarten classrooms never being in a school environment before, never leaving their homes, never leaving their parents. So I think they can come into it being a little bit intimidated.”
► Watch Micah Smith's report in the video below:
Hessing said her goal is to let students know that school is a safe place and to make them feel welcome.
At Lowry, there is a special set of helpers to assist with that task.
“What's very unique about our campus is that we have two school facility dogs. We have been honored and so happy to partner with Bella's Buddies. They're out of Virginia, and so our dogs are specially trained, and they've been specially trained since they were puppies to work in schools. Our dogs are very much a part of our school culture, and they're members of the staff,” Larkin said.
Larkin said the dogs, Liberty and Hank, can sense student stress and anxiety.
“We've had multiple occasions where sometimes they just bring joy within the classroom. If a child is having a harder time, you know, sad to leave their parent, there's always a dog to help them walk to class,” Larkin said. “We've also had instances where students might experience a high level of anxiety. We've had a student before that was starting to have a panic attack, and Liberty was specially trained to put her paw on her and pull her out of it. And so, the dogs have a special ability to sense when students are experiencing higher levels of stress or anxiety, and that's their service. They're trained to go over and alert the teacher if something may be going on with the student.”
Larkin said for students who may be allergic or afraid of dogs, Liberty and Hank know to give them space, and students can choose not to engage with the dogs.
Lowry Elementary School and all Denver Public Schools start class on Monday, August 24.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.