By Devin Thompson ’25  
Psychology major 

I decided to bring goat yoga to campus to help Pacific students relax before finals. As a student myself, I know that the spring semester can be extra stressful because everything is wrapping up at the end of academic year.

I am a sophomore psychology major and a resident assistant for Pacific’s North Quads residential community. One of my responsibilities as an RA is to engage student-residents by hosting socials. After the success of the “Save Your Drama for a Therapy Llama” destress event last fall, I thought about organizing an outdoor yoga, but then I found out about goat yoga, and it all came together.

The event took a lot of research, organizing and collaboration, but we made it happen. We set up on the lawn of the Wendell Phillips Center on April 28. About 50 students from the North Quad community participated during the two-hour event. I also saw a lot of other people stopping by just to take photos.

We offered two one-hour sessions. The first 30 minutes was yoga with an instructor. The goats were simply present and just casually interacted with people during the session. It was meant to be fun and provide a sense of comfort. There were also some yoga poses where the animals were trained to actually get on people’s backs. I think it was a lot of fun and made yoga less intimidating to those who were doing it for the first time.

During the last 30 minutes of the session, students could interact with the goats more casually like taking photos or feeding the animals.

Even though it was a lot of work putting it together, I’m glad I was able to bring goat yoga to our campus. It had never been done at Pacific, and it was fun for me to introduce something new. Overall, it was a fantastic and unique event and I think it helped many students destress before finals.

Devin Thompson describes his resident assistant duties as “welcoming the students, acting like a mentor for them, guiding them, answering any questions they may have and just being a person they can come to and rely on.”  

Now, he can add “supplying emotional support llamas” to that list.  

Last weekend, Thompson organized an event called “Save your Drama for a Therapy Llama” as part of a Residential Life and Housing series called “Saturday Socials,” which aims to provide students with fun ways to de-stress on campus.  

Students spent two hours feeding, hugging and generally hanging out with a group of four llamas on the DeRosa University Center lawn. The llamas travelled to Pacific from a ranch in Sonora called Llamas of Circle Home.  

“I originally was thinking of bringing therapy dogs, but a lot of different organizations on campus had already done that,” explained Thompson. “I was just looking into different therapy animals typically brought into campuses, and that’s where I came across the company located in Sonora.”  

Thompson, a psychology major, is no stranger to event planning. Through his work with both RLH and ASuop, Thompson has organized a variety of programming for students on campus, from informative events for first-year students to fun activities like pumpkin painting and drag shows.  

Llamas, however, were a new experience for him, just like they were for his fellow students.  

“I know seeing this really big animal is very bizarre, especially on a college campus,” Thompson said. “But llamas have been shown to be very helpful animals when it comes to dealing with stress. It’s just something meant to be fun for people.”  

“Save your Drama for a Therapy Llama” was a big hit with students. “I got to feed a llama,” said Jemin Park, a Media X major who attended the event. “I was hesitant at first, but it was actually a really healing and comforting experience.”

For Thompson, seeing his classmates enjoy themselves at his events makes all the long hours of organizing and planning worth it. “I think it’s very exciting. I didn’t think I’d potentially be doing something like this as an RA,” said Thompson.  

March 2 marks National Read Across America Day, a holiday established by the National Education Association to celebrate the joy of reading and spread awareness about how reading regularly can have a positive impact on our lives.

Speaking of which, did you know that reading is a great stress-reliever? Studies have shown reading for just six minutes a day can reduce stress in our daily lives. For busy college students, making leisure reading a part of your routine (even just a few pages a day!) can be a great way to practice self-care.

If you’re searching for your next read, look no further: People of Pacific’s student contributors took a quick break from their office duties to share their picks!

Abigail Landers, Photographer/Videographer

My favorite book is “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. This novel follows a group of university students in New England as they attempt to cover up the murder of their friend, Bunny. I love this book because the murder is revealed in the prologue, leaving the reader to discover the events that led up to said murder. On top of that, Tartt’s writing is simply beautiful as she exposes the character’s fatal flaws and truly acknowledges that “beauty is terror.”

Chelbi Juan, Copywriter

One of my favorite books is “The Help” by Katherine Stockett. The novel takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s, when the time of segregation was prevalent and the norm. The two main characters, Skeeter Phelan and Aibileen Clark, offer two different perspectives of the time as Phelan is a white, educated woman who comes from money and Clark is a Black maid. Phelan, along with the other black maids of the community, write and publish a book made up of stories from the maids’ lives depicting the horrid work conditions they must endure. It is a serious yet feel-good book with many complex and interesting characters. 

Samantha Tannahill, Marketing Producer

My favorite book is Anthony Burgess’ “A Clockwork Orange,” which was originally published in 1962 (fun fact: it wasn’t until 1986 that America began including the final chapter in printing!) The novel, set in a violent, near-future society, follows a 14-year-old delinquent named Alex who undergoes a controversial treatment to re-enter society after being sent to prison. When I first picked this book up my sophomore year of high school, I was fascinated by its use of Nadsat, a form of Russian-English slang. Though I think Kubrick’s film adaptation is fantastic, nothing can beat the original novel of “A Clockwork Orange”!