Graves Middle School students participated in the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Los Angeles’, or spcaLA, after-school four week program called the TLC Program.
The TLC Program stands for Teaching Love and Compassion. The students who participate in this program are at-risk students who get to work with TLC instructors training shelter dogs to prepare them for adoption.
During this program students learn a variety of valuable life-skills that promote kindness and respect to all living things. Students participate in journal writing, public speaking, conflict resolution, anger management, basic animal care, pet responsibility, and dog training. Students attend this program every day after school for all four weeks and work as a team with other participants in the animal training process.
After the four weeks students who successfully completed the program got to participate in the Graduation Ceremony where family and friends were invited to see what students and the dogs learned through the program.
This program was brought to Graves Middle School by assistant principal, Jaime Martinez, who heard about the program years ago. South Whittier was on the wait list for nearly five years before the program began at Graves.
This is the third year that Graves Middle School has brought this program to students.
All photos were taken and shared by spcaLA.