The afternoon of August 24th seemed like a normal lunch period at South Lakes High School, but a quiet disturbance was stirring. Picnic tables whispered as staff members huddled near the pavement. Anticipation and confusion hung in the air. At last, with the mouths of onlooking teens agape, a pack of farm animals were escorted onto the school grounds.
Two goats and four mini alpacas were tied down to the grassy area in the back student parking lot. In the seconds after the setup’s completion, students rushed to form a line for the makeshift petting zoo. Leadership students and their teachers, Jill Pellerin and Catherine McDermott, supervised the event by directing the flow of foot traffic. In addition, the owners monitored their animals and handed out food pellets to the students and staff.
These animals made their appearance as part of South Lake’s annual welcome week. During the first week of school, Leadership prepares daily special events to get students excited for the year, ending with the Block Party and a football game. Even though Thursday’s petting zoo was only a lead up to Friday’s main event, these critters arguably stole the spotlight.
Audrey Jay and Cameron Theis, both seniors and Leadership executives, were in charge of planning this year’s welcome week. “We saw that other schools near us have done (a petting zoo) before, so thought we could try too,” Jay comments, recalling the team’s brainstorming process.
While the event was briefly mentioned in the morning announcements, most students were shocked to see the farm animals at their outdoor lunch spot, only adding to the infectious excitement. Participants were ecstatic as they fed and petted the animals, swarming to take pictures like a paparazzi. Even teachers joined the fun, fleeing their indoor lunch periods to take an alpaca photo shoot. The event was so popular that supervisors struggled to get people back in class once lunch ended!
The company who provided the animals was My Pet Alpaca, owned by Andrea and Sean Diaz. Based in Delaplane, VA, the couple were keeping their 8 mini alpacas as casual house pets until the pandemic hit. After seeing the effects of quarantine on their children, the couple was inspired to bring joy to others by putting their fluffy friends on tour! Traveling across Virginia and surrounding states, the group offers services like weddings, home visits, birthday parties, and zoom calls with their animals. While the company specializes in mini alpacas, they also provide many other fun-size companions like dwarf bunnies and even small pythons.
“In the past, Welcome Week has not really been publicized like it was this year,” Jay says. “It was a fantastic way to brighten up the day and [decrease the] stress of coming back to school, even if only for a few minutes. I think that could be really useful during exam season towards the end of the year.”
This was an extremely unique welcome week in South Lakes history, and boy, did it (al)paca-punch! For more information on the Diaz’s and their mini alpacas (named Cinder, Dolce, Pisquito, Loki, Mochi, Marley, Teddy and Truffle), visit the official My Pet Alpaca website.
