Red Deer Catholic teacher wins province's Friends of Education Award
Maureen Miller's work with her late therapy dog Zoe is credited with reaching more than 1,000 students across three Red Deer Catholic schools.
Retired Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools teacher Maureen Miller has received the Friends of Education Award from the Alberta School Boards Association, recognizing her decades of work fostering literacy and student mental health alongside her certified St. John Ambulance therapy dog, Zoe.
Miller's advocacy led to the division's Animal-Assisted Interventions Policy, which has since been adopted as a model by other school divisions across Alberta. Her and Zoe's reading circles grew into a division-wide program, with their combined work estimated to have reached more than 1,000 students, particularly at St. Martin de Porres School, St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School, and École Camille J. Lerouge School.
Zoe passed away in 2024, after which Miller shifted her focus to supporting ESL students, including those displaced by the war in Ukraine. Miller has also written two books, God-Dog Moments and a bilingual title, Zoe the Superdog/Zoé le superchien.
The division says it plans to introduce a new therapy dog, Heidi, to its schools soon.
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