A furry friend in the Spanish classroom provides students with emotional relief

Photo by Nicole Lee

Zumi standing up on her two hind legs to feed on a piece of celery.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many — including Spanish teacher Gina Rodriguez — adopted pets. 

While others adopted dogs and cats, Rodriguez opted for a rabbit. Rodriguez’s rabbit, Zumi, was adopted as a baby in November 2020, and would often accompany Rodriguez on her lap as she taught her class from her computer on Zoom.

When teachers were asked to return to school around 3 months later, Rodriguez decided to bring her to class to let her roam around the classroom as she taught from her desk. 

As Zumi was extremely well received by her students and because there was no school policy against bringing rabbits to school, Rodriguez decided to keep bringing her to class.

“I like that Zumi interacts with the kids. They feed her and she’s very calming to a lot of them,” Rodriguez said.

To manage Zumi and take care of her needs, Rodriguez placed several mechanisms around the classroom, including a gate at the classroom entrance, a toilet area near the back of the classroom, a feeding bowl at the back of the classroom and snacks at the front so students can feed Zumi. 

During class, Zumi is free to roam around the classroom. On rare occasions, Rodriguez also brings Zumi out for walks around the school hallways.

“Her rabbit helps bring a relaxing and enjoyable presence to the classroom,” junior Neha Tadikamalla said. “Zumi is an adorable furry friend that makes the classroom free and never constrained.”