It's time for Positively Kansas.

Coming up, pandemics, violence, broken families, social media, cancel culture, the stresses faced by young people today just keep multiplying.

We'll show you an effort underway to bring some furry four legged relief to Kansas.

Kids in need of relaxation and relief.

Also, you'll meet a 96 year old Ark City man whose bed is a fiddle and on trend when it comes to exercising.

He offers some encouragement for all of us to get up and be more active in our Wild Edge report.

We have interesting information about these colorful little wildflowers that dots the Kansas countryside maybe surprised.

And you'll meet a Lawrence man who captures the beauty of Kansas with words.

Im Sierra Scott A half hour of information and inspiration is queued up and ready to roll.

In this edition of Positively Kansas.

Positively Kansas is brought to you in part by before investing your hard earned money, make sure your financial advisor understands your objectives.

Mark Douglass CFP Serving our community for over 25 years, providing customized financial solutions that focus on the individual.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas serves more than 900,000 Kansans in various programs.

Independent member owned Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, proudly supports PBS.

Kansas.

Program support provided by the F Price Cossman Memorial Trust and Trust Bank Trustee.

Bringing you the Kansas Wild Edge segments on Positively Kansas.

We live in some very stressful times for just about everybody, it seems.

That includes children and teenagers who face pressures most of us grownups couldn't even have imagined of their age.

Now, most Kansas schools are adding additional staff to try to help these new staff members seem to love their work and are easy to keep happy.

You just need a drama bone every now and then.

All right, Caitlin, let's go.

Students of Amy Hebert's fifth grade class return from break along with therapy dog Weston, a three year old Goldendoodle.

All right, check the board.

Make sure that you are ready for the day.

Do you need a restroom?

Did you get one or.

No?

No.

Okay, then you have 2 minutes to be ready for class if you need a restroom.

Break.

Get a restroom break.

If you need to say hi to West in Seattle.

Weston.

Weston gets more attention by Weston than most dogs do.

The attention coming from Halstead middle school students.

Weston is a certified professional therapy dog.

Fifth grade teacher Hebert is Weston's owner and handler.

School librarian Joel MATLACK is almost always shadowed by this goldendoodle.

She's the owner handler of.

Sure.

It's easy enough to see why this certified therapy dog is named Bear.

He's six.

Six years old, and he's been doing this for three years.

Bair is the veteran of the two therapy dogs.

You guys want to say hi to?

I'm there.

The canines are like magnets, attracting attention wherever they go.

I think he is such a great dog.

Just he doesn't do anything that a student should tell a teacher about and get in trouble for because he's such a good dog.

He can never get you in trouble.

You never get like he can get mad at you and stuff.

He's just so soft.

Yeah.

You're a good boy.

Weston started coming to the school in December of 2021 after getting his therapy certification.

The summer before Weston School welcoming can be attributed, at least in part, to how well the older bear has done.

When he was the lone therapy dog in the school.

Well, we had.

Seen therapy dogs and other school buildings and talked to some people and in districts other than ours.

And I when I took him to obedience training, when I took Bear, some people have been talking about taking their dogs to hospitals and things like that.

And we thought what a great idea for for dogs to work with students at school.

Dogs have filled the roles of providing affection, comfort and support to others, probably since humans first domesticated canines.

But in more recent history, the likes of nurse Florence Nightingale and Dr. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, recognize how dogs can help in calming some patients.

And.

Don't think therapy dogs are only used in younger students settings.

Yale Law School has used therapy dogs as stress relievers since 2011.

This is Zipper, a professional therapy dog at Enterprise Elementary School in Wichita.

Lucifer Kids can't resist petting him in the classrooms or when they pass in the hallways here.

Kill it.

I like.

It here.

That's a common reaction to the furry canine in the school.

Zipper promotes a calmness, lessening the stress a student may feel.

Megan Adams on the left oversees the therapy dog program in the Wichita Public Schools and is an owner handler of one of the school's therapy dogs.

She says therapy dogs have been used in some Wichita schools for at least 20 years.

I would love to see a professional therapy dog in every school.

You know, that's a big dream, a pipe dream.

But I think it would be wonderful if if we could increase the number of dogs in our schools.

Enterprise school counselor Danielle THRUSH is the owner handler of Zipper.

A three year old Goldendoodle breed.

THRUSH says Golden Doodles are known for their allergy friendly coats, making these dogs more welcome in populated settings like schools.

She says these dogs are also known for being good with children.

Yes, he comes to work with me every day and he's here all day long.

He gets breaks in my office and if a kid chooses that, they don't want to participate with him.

I have my kennel over there and so I kennel him for kids that just aren't fond of dogs.

And that's okay.

But most students welcome zip with a pat on the back, and then they get back to their classwork.

Now, Zipper can move seamlessly from classrooms full of children to school officers with adults.

Here comes zipper for more.

He can be used as a reward, but he's actually used as a tool.

He's used as a tool in therapy.

He's used to his used as a tool to help kids regulate and identify their emotions.

And so he does that within within the school.

And it's been really it's been really cool to see the kids walk up to him and as almost a member of it as enterprise.

And now that they see him, they just walk down the hallway and they'll pet him a little bit and then go on their way.

And it's not as much of a distraction anymore.

Professional therapy dogs, there's been quite a bit of research.

They increase positive feelings, they decrease anxiety and stress.

They really increase the overall well-being of our staff and students.

Those in Halstead are experiencing the same acceptance among students and staff.

You know, initially we thought that the dogs were here to comfort and help the students.

But really, we're discovering that they really work a lot with the teachers as well.

Teachers will come in and just get a quick, quick pat or come in and just give a little a little rub on em.

And they look forward to seeing the dogs just as much as the students do.

Hey, Christy.

Michelle Bear wants to come see you.

Bear has been around long enough to know all the teachers and students, so it's common for him to drop in unannounced, to greet students and teachers like here in Christy Hill's computer class.

Oh, come on, let's go.

When Bear's not roaming the halls or inspecting classrooms, he returns to his home base.

The school library, where he knows he can find other teachers and students.

I think he's just a good companion to some of our kids in our school that they feel comfortable.

They can come in and they can let any emotion go out.

And he's just a good just a good friend to our kids.

He's always there for him and he'll always be there for them.

I get kind of stressed all the time and he helps me a lot with it.

MORGAN It's recess time in Amy Hebert's class.

It's a cold winter day, so students relax and play games indoors with the therapy dogs interacting with them.

Do it again.

One, two, three.

Recess is over.

It's time for lessons again.

It is time to clean up.

Don't move.

I'm not done talking.

Check the floor.

Because if you leave anything.

On the floor, who will get it?

Well, in Oregon, yes.

Also, this middle school getting therapy dogs was not without study and planning.

So there was a lot of research done on what are the benefits and then what age groups and in what capacity.

The school started out with a pilot program, having bear in the school on certain days to gauge the response.

Oh, they're very welcomed.

The kids look forward to it.

And I was doing a new student tour one day, and the young man stopped and he said, This is real.

Their dogs in your school.

And I said, Yes, they're therapy dogs.

They're here just like you will be each and every day.

So they make a huge impression and they're a part of our staff.

So I did have questions about whether or not a therapy dog or let's just say a dog in school.

But then as I started watching our students interact with the therapy dog and when you put the word therapy in front, it changes the dynamic.

Now she's a fan.

Principal Riedel says other school districts have contacted her to hear what the Halstead School has learned.

I do recommend the therapy dogs for social emotional needs.

Our students definitely benefit from them.

Students like Morgan Schneider, who says she is overcoming her fear of dogs.

The more she's around Weston and Bear.

My friends have dogs, but I'm getting really used to them now.

Because they're like smaller dogs.

Now, something to remember.

These dogs aren't fresh off the street backyard yard, family, pet dogs.

They're trained and certified.

So these dogs are professional therapy dogs.

But she'll point out they're not service dogs like these service dogs we told you about in an earlier Positively Kansas story.

These service dogs are specifically trained for military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Their training is even more intense.

But therapy dogs require specific training, which takes time, work and money.

I pay for all the classes, then I have to pay to have been tested as well.

So I consume all of the cost for that.

It takes a lot of work as a handler.

So Mrs. Hiebert and I had to get our dogs trained in, and it's a financial commitment as well.

And so I think if you have somebody that's willing to do that in your building, it just makes a great opportunity.

MATLACK says a therapy dog can go through the workplace with this handler and says, in Kansas, these dogs are allowed anywhere, the public is allowed.

Both handlers say these dogs have been a help in the classrooms during the COVID pandemic.

As the pandemic has hit and the schools have gone through so many changes, we are seeing a huge social and emotional need in our students and in our staff.

And it was then that I thought that we could really use another support system in our school.

Bear and Weston interact with hundreds of students and staff members daily.

Now the dogs can stand out and be noticed in the classroom or seemingly fade into the woodwork and paid little attention to when the students are busy.

These students will eventually graduate to another school building even, but the dogs will remain to bring comfort to new students.

The dogs are here to stay.

They're not going anywhere.

At Homestead Middle School, this is Chris Frank for Positively Kansas.

The Wichita School District currently has 20 professional therapy dogs working in its schools with plans to add more.

In recent years, Pickleball has become very popular for people of all ages.

You're about to meet an art city man who proves age is nothing but a number when it comes to playing this exciting and trendy sport.

We can.

All only hope.

That at age 97 will be able to move around the pickleball courts or anywhere else for that matter.

Like Robin Latiker, Robin's introduction to Pickleball began when he was in his late eighties.

My daughter lived in Utah, kept telling me about this game, and she said, Dad, you need to get in on it.

So Robin started playing and then began recruiting friends to join him at the Art City Rec Center.

For the last several years, this close knit group has looked forward to getting together on Fridays.

Robin loves the exercise, but equally as much the camaraderie.

My wife passed away after I'd just barely started it.

And.

And I like the companionship and fellowship you get.

Or only nice people play pickleball.

The art city, native and world War Two veteran says he's always been active.

Being in the Navy required that.

But we got the real story about his passion for fitness from his daughter, and.

He rode his bicycle to work, which was several miles until the second time somebody stole it off the front porch.

So then he just started running.

Who ran the work?

He ran to work.

And also let us know about her dad's fierce competitiveness.

He loved to play Ping pong.

And so we had a table set up in the garage and he would spot me 15 points out of 21 and beat me every time.

So he's always been a competitor.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Something I would soon find out about.

Oh, you knew it was coming.

Robyn challenged me to a game, and being a competitor like him, well, I had to take him up on it.

The court was a bit dark.

I forgot my contacts, but thanks to years of tennis playing, I didn't totally humiliate myself.

But Robin and his partner still beat us.

I used to think Pickleball was for everybody.

But.

But it isn't.

Some people just aren't.

And I make.

Hopefully he wasn't talking about me.

Anyways, it was a lot of fun and even got me thinking about playing more often.

And fun is what it's all about for these folks.

Robin wouldn't have it any other way.

He just so encouraging to everybody because I'm terrible.

I've never played a sport in my life.

I'm the worst one of the bunch.

But he never.

He's still just.

Come on, get in there.

We can do this.

As much as Francis and the other players admire Robin's physical abilities.

It's the kind of person he is that makes him extra special.

He is a gentleman's gentleman.

He is a Prince Charming man that's been used to many times.

But he cares about everybody, about the world, about his friends, about his family, about the downtrodden.

And that's one of the reasons Robin was so happy to be interviewed.

He wants anyone who is feeling down or old and not exercising to see him as inspiration.

You're missing out, and I have fun doing it, and I'm going to keep doing it till probably they carry me all of I don't know.

In Park City, I'm Anthony Powell for Positively Kansas.

You might think with the workout he gets playing pickleball that Mr. Robin would take it easy in between.

Oh, no.

He has a vigorous exercise routine the rest of the week as well.

Then he relaxes on Sunday by walking some Kansas wildflowers or natives.

Others were brought here by settlers to add more color to the Kansas countryside.

This week, Mike Blair takes a look at Dame's rocket, a popular spring plant that isn't native to Kansas but now takes its place among the natives, especially around old prairie homesteads.

Among Kansas wildflowers that don't really belong here, Dame's rocket is certainly understandable.

Settlers brought seeds from this pretty ornamental to decorate their new homes, and over time it naturalized and spread.

It's now common through most of Kansas, especially near Old Homesite and Woodlot.

And I looked for it each year where it colors the landscape and attracts a host of wildlife, especially bees and butterflies.

It blooms in early May and its flowers are full of sweet nectar.

It's a natural and glorious backdrop for colorful insects.

While blooming, it creates a busy, temporary city where travelers of all kinds visit.

Early season monarchs headed north and laying eggs on milkweeds as they go.

Rely on these flowers for high energy food.

The monarchs, large size and cheery familiarity are perfect complements to the white and purple flowers, black swallowtail or another large species to be found.

Nectar ring here.

Again, they don't lay eggs on Dave's rocket plant.

They use them as an important food source in the new growing season.

Butterflies like them or a perfect reason to watch and photograph.

Wherever Dame's rock grows.

Smaller butterflies are even more common.

Painted Lady butterflies are numerous, clambering over flower clusters to load up on sweet nectar as they probe deep into flower centers.

Their bodies accumulate pollen dust that brush off on other flowers, helping to pollinate them and produce flower seeds.

This is true for all insects that feed here.

They provide an important service while feeding and don't even know it.

Buckeye butterflies are quite colorful and here is a good place to find them.

But guys are more common later in summer.

But the first few often congregate in places like this.

Bumblebees are common at Dame's rockets, too, eating nectar and gathering pollen to take back to their wild hives.

The abundance of insects attracts predators.

Many bird species hunt around flowers, since prey is easy to find and pick off while preoccupied with feeding birds like great crested, fly catchers are agile and flight able to catch flying bugs on the wing.

They sit and watch a hunting ground for butterflies like silver spotted skippers, and they pounce, seizing and returning to a perch to kill and eat their meal.

Even blue jays not particularly good at chasing insects, cash in where all kinds of bees, butterflies and beetles.

Conger gate colorful birds like indigo buntings find caterpillars and other insects.

There is food and plenty for all kinds of creatures where names rocket grows spring.

It's a never ending show for those who enjoy the outdoors.

I'm Mike Blair.

Four Positively Kansas.

Next time, Mike explores a secretive life of bobcats with some undercover video he was able to capture from Coffeyville, the Garden City, up to Lawrence and everywhere in between.

This next story is about a poet who captures the history, whimsy and culture of our beloved Sunflower State and a Spencer reports.

What we did in my parent's garden we should have done for our marriage, plucked off brown withering petals of the magnolia, dropped them in a black bucket so strong you buds could push through.

My mother showed us how to do it.

We did it in her garden, didn't do it at home.

And then it was too late for flowers.

Sitting on a bench at College of Emporia Park, Brian Baldauf reads from his recently published book, Kansas Poems.

Brian, originally from England, is a poet, author and senior lecturer at the University of Kansas.

He has called the Sunflower State home for the last 20 years.

His book of poetry is an ode to his adopted state.

Kansas has a kind of a slow charm.

I think it kind of grows on you.

It's not something like going to the mountains where it's spectacular right away.

So the poems in the book were written over at least a 20 year period.

And unlike my other ideas for books, I didn't set out with this idea and then worked on them and wrote the poems.

What I had to do for this book was to look through everything that I've been writing over at least 20 years, maybe even longer than that.

And pick out the poems that were of this particular place.

And then I put them together into the book and it made sense as I was looking through them to divide them into the seasons.

So the book is divided into the Four Seasons and obviously tied in with Kansas.

Brian says the poems have given him the opportunity to explore the people of Kansas and capture the places and things that make the state so special.

The writings in his book span both time and location, with poetry traversing decades in settings ranging from the cornfields of rural western Kansas to bustling little towns and even local cemeteries like this one.

Here we see Brian reading excerpts as part of a promotional piece for his book launch, an endeavor that was complicated by the pandemic.

Brian actually released two books during the stay at home order.

Kansas Poems and Words Is a Powerful Thing, a memoir of his work with inmates at the Douglas County Jail.

Brian has promoted his books via Zoom, saying Both the writing and the book launch have been creative efforts, leaving time for little else.

Well, the two books that I published this year, the Kansas Poems that I read from, and the book about the jail, they're so important and they just cover large periods of my life that there's nothing that I feel right away that I want to add to that at the moment.

Maybe in a year's time I'll think differently.

But I have so much invested in these two books that I don't really think about publishing another book at the moment.

He also hopes to eventually continue his class at the Douglas County jail when COVID restrictions lift.

For now, Bryan returns to the classroom at CU this fall.

While he'll share his love of writing with his students.

It's kind of strange for me to think that I've spent more time in Kansas than any other place in the world.

I mean, that wasn't my intention, but that's how it happened.

And that's fine.

While England is technically home for Brian, his love for the heartland grows, proving there's no place like his adopted homeland.

Kansas.

In Emporia, I'm Anna Spencer, four positively Kansas.

That's a wrap for this week.

positivelykansas@kpts.org is our dress.

If you have questions, comments or ideas.

Im Sierra Scott, thanks for wat We'll see you again soon.

Positively Kansas is brought to you in part by program support provided by the F Price Cossman Memorial Trust and Trust Bank Trustee bringing you the Kansas Wild Edge segments on Positively Kansas.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas serves more than 900,000 Kansans in various programs.

Independent member owned Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, proudly supports PBS Kansas.

Before investing your hard earned money, make sure your financial advisor understands your objectives.

Mark Douglass CFP Serving our community for over 25 years, providing customized financial solutions that focus on the individual.