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Students and staff get immersed in their support of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Features pg 6-7
Harold the ferret seeks new home Science class pet gets the boot from administration, homeless for a second time
By Shelby Steichen In the middle of September, science teacher Bill Kelly’s classes welcomed an unusual guest. Kelly adopted a ferret who now calls the classroom home. The ferret, Harold, came from a student who got herself into a tough situation. “I actually got [Harold] without my mom knowing,” sophomore Michaela Durner, the original owner of Harold, said. “So [my mom] found him one day and was like ‘Um, no, this can not be here. You need to get rid of him.’ ” Adopting Harold also seemed beneficial to Kelly because he thought he could create a unique learning experience for his students. “When I told [Durner] that I could take [Harold],
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I kind of took it as like a therapy-type dog, where the dog interacts with the students and the students interact with the dog,” Kelly said. “This isn’t a dog, but it gives the kids a chance to interact with an animal.” Kelly decided to take a new approach to having a classroom pet. Rather than staying cooped up in a cage, Harold was given freedom to roam around Kelly’s room during class. “Most of the time, he runs around in the class for a couple of hours and then goes to bed and sleeps for a lot of the day,” Kelly said. “He’s really not a pain, and the kids have gotten pretty used to him, so they deal with him crawling over their backpacks or feet.” Surprisingly, Kelly did not have to adapt his classroom for Harold’s arrival. According to Kelly, his room was already prepared.
“[My classroom was] always kind of set up to have a critter in the class either in a cage or running around,” Kelly said. The only changes that needed to be made with Harold’s presence came from the students. “The kids had to adapt so that they would see something running around and it wouldn’t surprise them,” Kelly said. “And [the students] that keep their backpacks on the floor had to remember to zip it because [Harold] likes to crawl into things.” Overall, having Harold in the classroom has served as a constructive experience for both Kelly and his students, Kelly said. “I think it’s been a positive influence and a positive [experience] for the kids to have him in the classroom,” Kelly said. “[Harold’s presence] is kind
Playing with Harold, the classroom ferret, science teacher Bill Kelly spends quality time with his unusual pet. Harold is allowed to roam the classroom. Photo by Shelby Steichen of calming, and I think the more students can be exposed to things that aren’t normal for them the more appreciative they’re going to be of life in general.” Some students also said they enjoy spending their class time with Harold. “I just like to hold him all day,” junior Shelby Liska said. Despite general positive attitudes toward Harold, administrators will not allow Kelly to keep him in his class. Continued on page 2
Vol. 123, Issue 3, Oct. 24, 2012