"Including them was a really good representation of what we have gone through," said one student. "These dogs are going to be there until the last of us are gone."

Aerie Yearbook

After the last glossy page of underclassman yearbook photos, 14 smiling, tongue-flashing dogs sit in two rows, their names listed just like the rest of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students and staff.

For adviser Sarah Lerner, rising editor-in-chief Caitlynn Tibbetts, and the rest of the yearbook staff at the high school in Parkland, Florida, including the crew of therapy dogs in this year's edition perfectly encapsulated the difficult but rewarding challenge of creating the book in the wake of a campus shooting that still very much defines their daily existence. "It's a balancing act," Tibbetts, a 17-year-old junior, told BuzzFeed News. "After the shooting we wanted that yearbook to be perfect and had to cover as much as possible. This year, we wanted to give proper representation of our school and who we are now without giving so much focus to what happened to us in the past. The therapy dogs are the one thing from last year that is permanent and positive." The crew of doggos has been an unwavering, consoling, integral part of the school since a gunman walked onto campus on Valentine's Day 2018 and killed 17 students and staff. They go to class, give handshakes in the hallways, and wag tails in the courtyard outside the cafeteria as teens flood in and out for lunch.

Aerie Yearbook

The dogs have been there as students and teachers grappled with the suicides of two Parkland teens this spring, a spate of traumatizing false fire alarms, the first anniversary of the massacre, the unexpected news that their principal was leaving, school shootings across the country, and other challenges. A few of the dogs even joined students at prom.



"There's nothing a dog can't fix," said Lerner, an English and journalism teacher and the yearbook adviser. "I'll be teaching and in comes a dog and these big 18-year-old adults all the sudden become mushy 5-year-old kids and it's been such a comfort for us."

The pups have become such a fixture that, last October during makeup picture day, Lerner suddenly had the idea to include them in the school's award-winning yearbook. "I told one of their handlers about it and next thing I know I had 15 dogs in the room," she laughed. "We sat them up on chairs, they were smiling for the camera. It was the greatest day of my life."



The yearbook photo shoot of the extremely good dogs quickly went viral last fall as students captured their furry friends decked out in bow ties posing for the photographers.

Including the therapy/service dogs in the yearbook is the best decision we’ve made so far like this one dog had a bowtie and my heart 😭💗💕

"It was such a mood lifter," Tibbetts said. "Including them was a really good representation of our school and what we have gone through. Seeing them is something we look forward to every day. These dogs are going to be there until the last of us are gone." And, as these behind-the-scenes shots show, Grace, Emma, and Chief took the moment very seriously.

Just a few of the puppies who took pictures today... Grace, Emma & Chief were so happy to be included in the yearbook.

According to Chief's human, Yvonne McAlpin, the four-year-old Labrador Retriever has an incredibly special bond with the kids, so much so that he often sits in their laps, something she says "he never does with me or anyone else." "It's magical to see the positive impacts he makes," McAlpin said. "The students will come up and you can see they are having anxiety and within 10 minutes they are totally relaxed, rubbing his belly and giving him kisses. He greets all the students when he goes into classrooms."

Yvonne McAlpin Chief with one of his bffs at MSD.

Like constantly hearing about their school in the media, seeing Chief, Molly, and the other therapy dogs wandering across campus every day has become part of a new, strange, and emotional reality that the yearbook class worked hard to highlight, Tibbetts said.

"We are a school where news trucks are always posted outside and there is so much to deal with and show. We want to keep the conversation going in a non-triggering way," Tibbetts said, "and it's a hard thing to do to not make it sad and depressing, but still honor who we lost and what happened to us." When conceptualizing the yearbook, the 35 students were adamant about making it more of a "celebration," Lerner noted. The colors and fonts are clean and bright. There are no pictures of the victims this year, but photos of memorials and snippets of stories and tributes about them are woven throughout the pages. "It's hard to be here some days because of the trauma and reliving and revisiting things," Lerner said. "I couldn't be prouder of my students and the yearbook they put together. Honestly, it's my favorite. We have a different perspective on things now, and it's not just a yearbook — it's a record of history."

The yearbook's theme, "It All Depends," aims to highlight perspective, growth, and how the school and community have transformed since the massacre.

"We wanted to focus on how everyone is feeling and going through things differently," Tibbetts said. "All these moments and experiences define us, and it's a matter of getting through it. Eventually, things will be better, so it's a matter of finding the small joys and happiness in the everyday." One great example, she said, is watching her classmates pick up their yearbooks and gush over the photos of their grinning therapy dogs before the summer starts.