“Everybody needs something to take care of.” 

For Melanie Turner, advisor for communication studies and journalism, she chose to care for dogs. 

Turner rescued her dog Rosie around last Christmas after Rosie was found on the street and picked up by Midwest Pet Refuge. 

Turner decided to bring Rosie to the College of Communication, Information and Media (CCIM) event, Dogs and Donuts, to tell Rosie’s adoption story. 

“Rosie came up on [the Midwest Pet Refuge’s] website, and a friend of mine was fostering her,” Turner said. “I was not the first one to show interest [in adopting Rosie,] so I was really sad.”

Turner said the people who were wanting to adopt Rosie decided they were not ready to introduce another pet to their family, so Turner got the call that Rosie could be hers.

“I was really excited,” Turner said. “Dogs always bring light in my life.”

Turner said she has always had dogs, but after losing her previous dog last January, she decided to wait before adopting Rosie. Now with Rosie and another dog in her home, Turner considers them her family.

“These are my children — my four-legged children,” Turner said. 

Cate Lynch, freshman journalism major, was one student who met Rosie at the Dogs and Donuts event. 

“I love dogs, and I love donuts, so it is a win-win for me,” Lynch said. “I think it helps the students because we get so happy petting dogs, and it helps us to feel at ease.”

Kyleigh Lay, CCIM academic peer mentor, partnered with other academic peer mentors and Maria Williams-Hawkins, associate professor of telecommunications, to organize this semester’s Dogs and Donuts event.

“Dogs and Donuts is kind of a legacy event that we host every semester,” Lay said. “We collaborate with faculty members in the [Journalism] Department and invite them to bring their dogs.”

Lay said the event serves as a place for students to network, but it also gives students a chance to destress during midterm testing. 

“College is stressful sometimes, [but] you can just feel that the dogs are happy,” said Jahnise Williams, freshman psychology major. “They share that emotion.”

As students took a break from the stress of college life with Dogs and Donuts, Turner said she was grateful for the opportunity to let students enjoy spending time with Rosie. 

“I just think sharing my animals with other people, especially students who may not be close to a dog right now, is a good thing to do,” Turner said.

 Contact Taylor Smith with comments at tnsmith6@bsu.edu or on Twitter @taynsmithh.  

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