This week, I have decided to examine a potato. Not a real potato; a stress potato. It is a stress ball in the shape and color of a literal potato. Though the color is more green than a perfect Idaho potato would be at the store, it has a realistic representation of dents and eyes on real potatoes.

I received this potato from my neighbor, Heather, who my mother is good friends with. They moved in next to us when I was 5 years old. They have been next to us so long that I remember when they brought their baby daughter home from the hospital, and this year, she’s turning fifteen. The potato is four to five inches in length, and on one side it says “green chimneys” with a drawing of a house containing a plant, pet, and two people. The sun is shining down on the house.

I was over at their house one day having dinner. I spotted it on their kitchen counter and immediately picked it up. I was just staring at it, and I heard Heather say, “Em, you can have that if you want. Carter doesn’t use it anymore!” So, of course, the stress potato was mine.

After doing some brief research, I discovered that Green Chimneys is a learning environment dedicated to special needs children who have emotional and mental health disorders. It is centered around animal assisted therapy. It is located in Brewster, New York, and it began as an “unusual boarding school,” as the biography puts it. Sam and Myra Ross are the creators of what Green Chimneys is known for now, but in the beginning, it was simply a boarding school with students between the ages of three and six. It opened in 1948. The home like setting of this boarding school, prepared by Sam’s father, was only part of the unique environment; attending school here came with the opportunity to interact and care for animals.

As Green Chimneys’ history goes on, in the 50s, it gained a reputation of helping students with special needs, and thus blossomed into what it is today: there are more than 200 students attending Green Chimneys today compared to the 11 when it began in 1948. It hosts therapeutic day programs as well as their residential year round school programs, and of course still has the innovative animal-assisted therapy. The Green Chimney’s Farm and Wildlife Center houses three hundred domesticated farm animals and wildlife.

Green Chimneys expanded in 2008 with a brand new campus in Carmel, New York, showing that their services are extremely beneficial, and will continue to be in the future.

Heather’s son, Carter, had serious trouble attending school when he was young. I assume this is one of the places he attended, and it has very clearly paid off. He can function in a learning environment, and is even on his college search right now. After knowing him for basically his whole life, I’m very proud to say the least. I’m really glad my stress potato has come from such a loving and caring place which focuses on emotional well-being while learning, as it has genuinely aided me in times of stress.