Abstract: 

Stress levels are rapidly increasing among high school students as a response to heavy workload and extremely demanding classroom environments, despite the negative effects of constant stress during the developmental stages of one's life (Dias et al). Additionally, animal exposure therapy has been proven to be effective for stress reduction, leading me to inquire about the effect of certified therapy animals and high school students.  This study contained 14 participants in current attendance at A medium sized suburban high school. Equating to, 2 freshmen, 6 juniors, and 6 seniors. To start, the participants filled out a pre-intervention form recording how they were feeling, then pet the certified therapy dog individually in a private room for 5 minutes, then filled out a post-intervention/reflection form. The results from the post-intervention form displayed a clear change in emotional and physical experiences. Most students who recorded that they felt stressed or generally unwell before the intervention recorded feeling calm or relaxed post intervention. These results indicate that animal assisted therapy is an effective tool for stress reduction in high school students and could be utilized by high schools and their students to help combat the high school stress epidemic.