SCRANTON, Pa. — A sea of students surrounded dozens of dogs. This is the bi-annual pet therapy event put together by the University of Scranton's Center for Service and Social Justice. Organizers say this day on the calendar is one everyone on campus looks forward to.
"You can really see it on everybody's face. As soon as they walk in, everybody lights up. They run right up to the dogs. You'll walk around you'll see each dog has a group of like 10 or 15 people sitting around them. So it's just a really nice environment," said Kyle Kennelly.
Organizers say about 1,000 students take advantage of this event each year and draws nearly 100 dogs.
"I have a bulldog at home and I really miss him and I feel like this just makes me feel a little more at home and it's so cute to call me after class," said Ava Belle.
"They're just so calming. I definitely find so much therapy and this is exactly what it's for. I think this is great for college students. It's fantastic!" said Gianna Leggio.
Students have gotten to the point of the semester where the workload is starting to pick up.. and could use some time to decompress and relax.
"I have a lot of tests coming up. Midterms are starting soon. We've been here for a month you know, we're all starting. So I've tried to get involved in no fit in and I think this is really fantastic to get all the college students together," Leggio said.
Abby Walsh says she brings her golden retriever Oakley to therapy events because he gets just as much out of it as the people do.
"Everyone's always like, Oh, I just miss my dog so much. And he's just a very good as you can tell he's very good outlet for that," said Walsh.
Organizers say they hope this event also ignites new friendships for some of these college newbies.