A Pella High School alumna has found a new passion while away at college, one that aims to help others through service animals. Jessa Bokhoven has been working with Retrieving Freedom in Waverly while attending the University of Northern Iowa. Bokhoven says she aims to become even more involved with training the service animals critical to the lives of many who need them.

“What I did is I had to take a class that trained me on how to interact with the dogs and to make sure I knew how they were supposed to behave,” she says. “Then I had to take a test about it and make sure I knew how to do it in public if anything happened, and now I just love doing it.”

Bokhoven was able to showcase what she’s learned with Raymond the dog at the final Thursdays in Pella this summer. Jessa graduated from Pella High School in 2017 and was a member of that year’s Tulip Time Royal Court.