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As the school year is almost up, seniors are finally receiving their yearbooks. And when the 18-year-old Diana Bloom from Stafford High School in Falmouth, Virginia, has received hers, she noticed that among all the students, there was another graduate – Alpha the dog!
“Seeing a picture of a dog caught my eye pretty quickly,” Bloom told BuzzFeed News. “I thought it was so cute, and I knew that some of my underclassmen friends hadn’t seen it yet because they didn’t have their yearbooks so I took a picture and tweeted it.”
Captured in the picture is Alpha, Andrew ‘AJ’ Schalk’s service dog, who among being the cutest graduate of the year, is also a life saver. 16-year-old Andrew has type 1 diabetes, so Alpha is there to let him know when his blood sugar is getting too low or high. “The amazing thing about Alpha is that he knows 20 to 40 minutes before my blood sugar actually does go low or high due to his amazing sense of smell,” Schalk said. And Alpha has already saved Andrew’s life on multiple occasions by waking him in the night when his blood sugar levels had dipped.
During his time with Andrew, Alpha has become the school’s favorite and even has his own student ID. So when the time came to take photos for the yearbooks, it was a no-brainer to include Alpha as well.
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While flicking through her yearbook, one senior student noticed that among all the students there was another graduate – Alpha the dog!
“I thought it was so cute… so I took a picture and tweeted it”
Meet the cutest yearbook’s couple, Andrew ‘AJ’ Schalk and his service dog Alpha, who among being the cutest graduate of the year, is also a life saver
16-year-old Andrew has type 1 diabetes, so Alpha and his amazing sense of smell is there to let Andrew know when his blood sugar is getting too low or high
Alpha has already saved Andrew’s life on multiple occasions when Alpha woke him in the night when his blood sugar levels had dipped
During his time with Andrew, Alpha has become the school’s favorite and even has his own student ID, so it was a no-brainer to include him in the yearbook as well
And people reacted:
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What do you think ?
John L 7 years ago
Its so nice to have Alpha included in the yearbook. But couldn't they have at least included a better picture of our hero?
i_know_im_amazing 7 years ago
@John L Well I always look terrible so I just try to go for "Bad" instead of "terrible" lol
Nancy E 7 years ago
It used to be search & rescue dogs. We now know how much more they can be trained for. We humans are lucky to have them as pets , as bomb sniffers, & , as health assisters.
Talise Snyder 7 years ago
Really sweet story, but that school has an absolutely s****y and unacceptable mascot. That's f****d up.
Yugan Talovich 7 years ago
I love this, and I love the photo of Alpha the dog, no matter what people say. That's how our beagle looks at me.
Agnes Jekyll 7 years ago
That's incredible that this dog can smell when his blood sugar is too high or low. Amazing.
Jessica Avila 7 years ago
They did this at our school!! http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Service-Dog-Makes-Timber-Creek-High-School-Yearbook-423222094.html
nanashi 7 years ago
I don't think Alpha was meant to have his picture included. He must have been with Andrew (right there beside him) while getting the shot and he was in the frame.
PaNdaheART 7 years ago
I agree. I kept wondering why they didn't do a better job on his picture, like move the camera a bit so he's not almost out of the frame.
Load More Replies... 
person (i think) 7 years ago
It was probably a late decision on the part of the yearbook staff. I think Nanashi's conjecture is right; they must have had Alpha's picture incidently and just decided to include it.
John L 7 years ago
Its so nice to have Alpha included in the yearbook. But couldn't they have at least included a better picture of our hero?
i_know_im_amazing 7 years ago
@John L Well I always look terrible so I just try to go for "Bad" instead of "terrible" lol
Nancy E 7 years ago
It used to be search & rescue dogs. We now know how much more they can be trained for. We humans are lucky to have them as pets , as bomb sniffers, & , as health assisters.
Talise Snyder 7 years ago
Really sweet story, but that school has an absolutely s****y and unacceptable mascot. That's f****d up.
Yugan Talovich 7 years ago
I love this, and I love the photo of Alpha the dog, no matter what people say. That's how our beagle looks at me.
Agnes Jekyll 7 years ago
That's incredible that this dog can smell when his blood sugar is too high or low. Amazing.
Jessica Avila 7 years ago
They did this at our school!! http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Service-Dog-Makes-Timber-Creek-High-School-Yearbook-423222094.html
nanashi 7 years ago
I don't think Alpha was meant to have his picture included. He must have been with Andrew (right there beside him) while getting the shot and he was in the frame.
PaNdaheART 7 years ago
I agree. I kept wondering why they didn't do a better job on his picture, like move the camera a bit so he's not almost out of the frame.
Load More Replies... person (i think) 7 years ago
It was probably a late decision on the part of the yearbook staff. I think Nanashi's conjecture is right; they must have had Alpha's picture incidently and just decided to include it.
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