It’s not every day that you would want to be considered a guinea pig. The angst of testing out something new generally is not appealing.

Angst, however, was never even considered by Academy fourth grade students who were welcomed back to school by, well, two guinea pigs.

Meet Ginger and Stella, two guinea pigs awarded to Academy fourth grade teacher Mrs. Robin Chiang as a result of her application to Pet Care Trust’s ‘Pets in the Classroom’ grant program.

“I thought the program sounded interesting, and it beautifully animates life-skills that I teach each day,” said Mrs. Chiang, who admits she was a guinea pig of sorts throughout the process. “This is the first time I have had two guinea pigs in the classroom, but it was well worth it. You can see the excitement in the eyes of the children knowing that they have Ginger and Stella in their class.”

Mrs. Chiang was one of 700 teachers in the country chosen to receive a grant. The grant provided Mrs. Chiang with the means to purchase and care for the guinea pigs in the classroom setting and offers teachers a way to add to the classroom environment, making it more interesting as well as providing the opportunity to utilize the pets in the curriculum itself. Classroom pets can play a role in science, math, language arts and creative arts curriculums, as well as providing a daily, active initiative for students to learn responsibility.