By Inae Kim, Staff Writer
There was no fanfare and no advertisement on the campus announcement email list, only a few posters hung around Armerding. But on Sept. 25, from 3:30 to 5 p.m., the Armerding lobby was full of people united by a shared captivation: baby goats.
The goats came from Hickory Grove, a small family farm in Wayne, Ill., that produces goat milk soap. Alana Nelson, the owner of the farm, works at Wheaton teaching classes such as Twentieth-Century Music and World Music. After Michael Wilder, dean of the Conservatory of Music and Division of Arts and Communication, visited her farm, he was inspired to bring the baby goats on campus for the students.
One would expect four baby goats to be noisy, but it was the humans who made it hard to hear. Children from Wheaton’s Community School of the Arts shrieked and laughed inside the goats’ pen as they petted the animals. College students milled around in groups, talking and watching the hubbub.
A few brave students held goats in their arms, smiling as they stroked the soft fur.
Music performance major Mia Harms was one such student. Two years ago, when she was a freshman, she had petted baby goats in the Armerding lobby at a similar event. Now, as a junior, she was able to be with the goats again.
“I was so excited to come this year,” Harms said. “They’re just so, so cute, and it’s just like a great stress reliever holding those baby goats.”
This year marks the third year that goats have graced Armerding’s lobby, and Wilder said he thinks the conservatory will try to bring them back.
“People seem to be really happy about it,” he said.
Sophomore music and elective studies major Elise Tyson agreed. She arrived in Armerding with a double mission: to practice and to see the goats.
For Tyson, the goats did more than simply bring smiles to people’s faces. As Tyson interacted with the goats, she started talking with others nearby — friends, fellow students and even a student’s grandmother.
“It’s a really sweet way to bring the community together,” she said.
