The University of Mississippi Career Center, in partnership with Second Chance Animal Alliance and Students for Sustainable Fashion (SFSF), hosted a Dogs, Careers and Cookies event on the Martindale Cole lawn on Tuesday, October 15th.
Students were invited to play with rescue dogs and enjoy complimentary packed tea and cookies. Career Center staff answered questions and talked about upcoming fall events.
Liz Dixon, project manager at the Business School Cital Signs and education and training specialist at the Institute of Child Nutrition, is a volunteer with Second Chance Animal Alliance and worked with the Career Center to organize the event.
“It’s a fun way to de-stress and learn a little more about your career when everyone is burnt out in the middle of the semester,” Dixon said.
Sain and Dixon brought six rescue dogs and Halloween costumes to the event.
“We let the dogs out and socialize them,” Sain said. “We get to take great photos, learn more about the dogs’ personalities outside of the shelter, and see a completely different side of them.”
Second Chance Animal Alliance is a no-kill shelter for dogs and cats located in Water Valley, Mississippi. Mr. Sine shared that participating in on-campus events is very important to the shelter.
In addition to recruiting volunteers and promoting the adoption program, the event also helped many dogs find homes. This is the second time the shelter has partnered with the career center.
Meadow Cooper, a freshman biology major, attended the event with her friend Mema Ibrahim, a freshman pharmacy major, after seeing the flyer in an email.
“It’s great to get out of the library and actually be outside with the animals,” Cooper said.
She and Ibrahim agree that the event is a welcome break from midterm stress and plan to encourage other students to participate in similar events.
Cooper said she would consider taking the dog out of the shelter for a day using the Second Chance program.
Ibrahim said he wasn’t a dog person before the event, but now he’s getting closer to dogs.
“It was fun when they didn’t lick,” Ibrahim said.
Anne York, a real estate and marketing major, founded Students for Sustainable Fashion and collaborated with her thesis advisor, Christy Wright, assistant director of employer services, to create the event.
“This is a wellness event where everyone can play and have fun with the dogs and also participate in the career center,” York said.
Yorke is currently working on her thesis on sustainable fashion and collected used harnesses, leashes and other dog accessories during the event. She founded SFSF last year and plans to hold several more fundraisers later this year.
“There is a lot of Zara culture and Shine culture on campus, and it was important for me to start something that counteracts that and raises awareness of sustainable fashion,” York said.
