Yearbooks are probably the most prized possessions of someone’s high school career, and some of the yearbooks of the Stafford High School in Falmouth, Virginia have even become an internet sensation. Everybody just loves one member in the yearbook in particular, and unlike all the others, he has four legs.

High schooler Andrew ‘AJ’ Schalk suffers from Type 1 diabetes and always has his trusted service dog alongside him, Alpha.

Alpha and AJ are practically inseparable, but neither of them seems to mind as they’re the best of friends and wouldn’t want to miss each other for the world. Alpha is a service dog, and he makes sure that AJ’s blood sugar stays on normal levels as the four-footer is able to detect when his owner’s blood sugar is too high or too low.

As a matter of fact, AJ’s loyal pooch even managed to save his life on multiple occasions.

Luckily, everybody at school absolutely adores Alpha, and he even has his own school ID card!

The staff, the teachers, the other students – Alpha manages to put a smile on everyone’s face at the faculty and is considered an essential part of the school community.

Because he is adored by everyone and the school wouldn’t be the same without him, everyone thought it’d be a great idea if Alpha could participate in Picture Day.

It was also the time of the year for yearbook preparations, and AJ actually suggested to his teachers that Alpha could be in the book as well, with a picture and everything. After all, the four-footer was there at the school every single day and couldn’t be missed, so he deserved a spot in their yearbook as well. The Stafford High School faculty immediately agreed without hesitation.

The yearbook was finished and the dog – listed as Alpha Schalk – had a spot next to his owner with an absolutely hilarious and adorable picture.

However, nobody actually expected that the yearbook picture would go viral on the internet! Diana Bloom, a member of the student body who had access to the yearbooks before they were made available to all students, published a picture of Andrew and AJ in the yearbook on her Twitter-profile. It didn’t take long before the internet went crazy about it.

“That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” one Twitter user commented.

“Such a wonderful act of the school to recognise the importance of Alpha’s work for someone with Type 1 Diabetes – well done Stafford High” Conrad Jarrett said.

Next year, AJ and Alpha decided to do something special for their yearbook photo.

The photo just says it all, really. Alpha looks amazing in that tux!

And it’s most certainly not the first time that a service dog has gone viral thanks to school photos. The teachers and students at an elementary school in Lake Charles, Louisiana can definitely relate. Rowdy is a service dog for one of the students, and he was even given a tiny and adorable bowtie for his photoshoot.

“I’m a school photographer and we got to take a service dog’s picture for the yearbook today,” photographer Jillian Christine wrote on her Twitter-account.

The cute picture went viral with over a million likes and 300,000 retweets.

In any case, the stories of Rowdy and Alpha are just absolutely hilarious, and they definitely make picture day at school a whole lot more fun. As for AJ and Alpha, they now have two awesome yearbooks to remember all the past memories they’ve had in high school together. How cute!

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Source: JustSomething, tidfighter_aj, dianalbloom