Indy-Pendence Service Dog club serves the community for 13+ years

NORMAL, Ill.– An Illinois State University RSO is going strong after 13 years of educating students about service dogs.

Indy-Pendence Service Dogs, also known as ‘Indy’ was established in 2013 and offers hands-on experience with working and learning about service dogs. The current president, senior Mackenzie Burns, has been involved with the organization for four years after joining during her freshman year.

When explaining what Indy is about, Burns said, “We want to spread awareness about service animals and reach as many people and students as possible.”

She believes it is important for people to learn about service dogs and what they do. She said, “We want people to be aware and know how to act when seeing service animals in public.”

Burns also said that students have the opportunity to work with in between one to five dogs to become a student trainer, while students have the opportunity to attend the weekly meetings.

“[ISU] students are able to attend our meetings Monday nights in Schroeder 242 at 7 p.m.”