With wagging tails and kind eyes, the four-legged staff members at Evergreen High School welcome students each morning, walk the halls and visit classrooms to offer a loving, calming presence and moments of joy to a student body still processing a school shooting.
Norene and Polenta, two golden Labs, joined the high school southwest of Denver to help students relieve stress and stay focused as they heal from last year’s trauma after a student shot and wounded two of his peers before shooting himself.
“Every morning after I get off the bus, I have to say hi to these two. It’s the first thing I do every day,” said Fisher Helbraun, a junior at Evergreen High School.
“Every single time I see one, I always have a smile on my face. I always get either some puppy kisses or I get some nice pats.”
Norene, a calm, young dog who loves attention, and Polenta, her spunky and rambunctious colleague, started at the school in March and August, respectively.
They are part of a programme run by Canine Companions, a nonprofit based in California that provides trauma support dogs free of charge. The dogs are the first to be matched with a school following a shooting on campus.
In Sept 2025, a 16-year-old student opened fire with a revolver at the school during lunch hour, wounding two students before shooting himself. The suspect later died.
Evergreen High School Principal Skyler Artes sheltered in the main office with students and staff and remained at the school until the last person had left.
After the shooting “everybody was devastated, a lot of sorrow, a lot of grief, a lot of uncertainty about how to proceed”, Artes said.
Some of the nonprofit’s dogs provided support at a family reunification site.
Artes decided to train with Canine Companions to be a support dog handler after seeing the positive impact the animals had on the students and staff.
Permanent presence
Volunteers with Canine Companions continued to bring dogs to the school in the days following the shooting, and Artes decided support dogs should be a permanent presence at the school.
“The fact that they are calm, that they’re generally peaceful and attentive makes them good at providing that ongoing, consistent, stable source of support, affection and quiet when people need it most,” she said.
Even though the dogs are a relatively new presence at the school in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, they were crowned prince and princess at the homecoming football game last month and donned royal capes and crowns as they paraded through the football field.
“The second that I see them in the hallway, or I go out of my way to come see them, it just brightens my day, it makes it so much better,” said Maddie Cornwell, a senior. “That kind of innocent joy and love that they have to share, they just give it to humans so easily and it just makes you so happy to see them play and run around.”
Artes is Norene’s handler, and Polenta is assigned to lead counsellor Amy Wells, who is also a volleyball coach and brings Polenta to practices. Wells also completed the handler training at Canine Companions.
Early start
The organisation starts training support dogs from the time they are puppies when they start learning dozens of tasks, from following simple commands like sitting and staying, to more refined skills, including how to respond to students or teachers going through a difficult moment.
They also learn how to be a stable presence in areas of the school that could trigger trauma, said Paige Mazzoni, chief executive of Canine Companions.
“What’s really powerful about dogs in this type of work is that they have a lot of heart, they have high intelligence, they respond very well to people and to forming a partnership, and it’s really the power of the human-canine bond,” she said.
Quinn McEvers, a senior, said she makes it a point to see the dogs or pat them each school day because it always puts her in a good mood.
Having “these dogs in the school is amazing because when we have tests, when there’s a stressful moment, when the weather’s bad, when, honestly, anything puts our mood kind of down, the dogs are there,” said McEvers.
“I would think people do a lot better in school when they’re actually in a good mood or when they’re excited about going to school,” she added.
Research shows that shootings at schools can lead to lower test scores and declines in students’ ability to concentrate and focus but Evergreen saw the opposite, Artes said.
“We saw our AP test scores go up,” she said. “We also had a 100% graduation rate in a year that was extraordinarily difficult.”
After a dog is assigned to a facility, they stay there for eight to 10 years, when the animal retires.
Artes said she plans to get more support dogs once Norene and Polenta leave their posts.
“Having a steady presence, an animal that doesn’t really care what’s going on and loves you anyway,” she said, “that unconditional love and support, that is valuable no matter what’s going on.” – AP
