Omaha Corgi Crew perks up winning Titan Times

Papillion La Vista South’s Hope Squad organized a Hope Week to encourage students and staff to think about mental health. Between March 6th and 10th, the student lead group planned fun and uplifting activities for the entire school to take part in. Each day had a designated theme that the students worked together to pick and facilitate. There were days that involved dressing up, competing in a mental health related Kahoot, and decorating stars to create a community mural. But the big hit was a visit from the Omaha Corgi Crew on Thursday.

On Wednesday various Titan Times were encouraged to participate in a mental health related Kahoot, answering questions about mental health and the Hope Squad organization. The top four winning titan teams were awarded thirty minutes with the corgis the following day. There were eleven dogs in total for the students to bond with and the visit seemed to make everyone ecstatic. The dogs were given free will to roam around the counseling center while the students sat in a circle waiting for the dogs to approach them. Senior Addie Miller referred to it as a “corgi avalanche.”

Olivia Freis, the leader of the group gave some insight on why this group of owners shares their fuzzy friends.

“I stumbled across the group on Facebook in 2016. The group was founded in 2011, started as a group of people maybe with a dozen dogs or so and they’d get together at the dog park. They made a Facebook group to coordinate and as the group grew popular on Facebook we were invited to various events. We would begin to partner with local rescues to help them raise money. Now we have almost 3,000 members on our Facebook group. We go to various events like this at schools. We’ve done birthday parties, or other dog events around town. Any donations we receive or any shirts we sell, all the money goes to local dog rescues in the Omaha Metro area.”

Many students who attended the corgi celebration had words of praise for the furry friends.

“It was really fun. The corgis were really kind and fluffy.” said freshman Thadd Doble. Other students and staff expressed how having the pups there was a nice break in their already busy and stressful lives.

“It’s really relaxing from the stress that everyone has.” said freshman Eian Jamison. Mental health in schools and in society overall has been effected in the last few years and having designated days for students and staff to decompress can make a significant impact.

“How could you not be happy?” said para Tammy Korner, which seemed to be a unanimous feeling with everyone who spent time with the corgis.