Lily Roberti ’28, a first-year student from Stroudsburg, Pa. who recently declared a major in Media & Communications, earned a scholarship from The Seeing Eye, a nonprofit that provides guide dogs to visually impaired individuals, for raising four Seeing Eye puppies and volunteering with the organization.

“My mom always loved dogs,” Roberti said. “When she was pregnant with me, she raised her first puppy, Abram, to be a Seeing Eye guide dog. He overlapped with me for a few months after I was born, and then he went back to The Seeing Eye and went on to lead a blind person for eleven years.”

After Abram, Roberti’s mother took a break from Seeing Eye puppies to raise Roberti and her younger sister, but when Lily turned 11, she started asking for a puppy.

“My mom took this opportunity to teach me about the fantastic service opportunity that is raising a Seeing Eye puppy,” explained Roberti. “Then I was paired with my first puppy, O’Shea, in the summer before sixth grade.”

Since then, Roberti has raised four puppies; O’Shea, Jazz, Corrie, and Ginger, exceeding the criteria of raising at least two puppies for The Seeing Eye’s scholarship.

“I raised O’Shea at eleven years old, Jazz at thirteen years old, Corrie at fifteen years old, and my family is currently raising Ginger, who will be going back to the Seeing Eye this fall,” she said. “All four are labradors with the sweetest personalities and are super intelligent dogs.”

The keys to raising a Seeing Eye puppy are training and socialization, according to Roberti. Some methods The Seeing Eye has found success with include bi-monthly puppy club meetings to practice training and meet with professionals who assess the puppy’s development, group outings to amusement parks, malls, or airports to introduce the puppies to places they might encounter as a guide dog, and other basic command training. 

“You have to work on basic commands on your own time, including ‘sit,’ ‘rest,’ ‘down,’ teaching them not to bark, teaching them how to walk nicely on a leash, and teaching them to ignore other dogs in public,” she explained. “The puppy-in-training will go with you almost everywhere you go, with a service vest on, learning how to handle new environments like movie theaters, pumpkin patches, your daily job, a clothing store, and so much more. There are very strict rules to prepare them for life as a service dog, some of which include absolutely no ‘people food,’ no getting on furniture, and not letting strangers pet them in public while they are ‘working.’”

Roberti is one of the youngest members of her local club and has spent hundreds of hours volunteering with the nonprofit. She also delivered a presentation to her entire high school, with a puppy companion, to encourage others to get involved with the organization.

“It is a very fun and rewarding experience to watch your dog go from a silly, seven-pound ball of fuzz to a leader on a leash who picks up cues and, by the end of your approximately twelve months with them, is ready to go back to The Seeing Eye headquarters for formal guide-dog training,” she adds.

Roberti’s family is often approached by those not involved in this type of work who say that they’d “never give up a puppy,” as if her family doesn’t love dogs as much as they do.

“The Seeing Eye has a far deeper meaning for those of us involved,” said Roberti. “At the annual summer Family Day Festival, we hear blind people give speeches about the massive effect our hard work has had on their quality of life and independence. It feels so fulfilling to be a member of an organization that gives visually impaired people a newfound sense of freedom. Puppy-raisers for The Seeing Eye are bonded together by the volunteer work that we do, and, although it’s difficult to let go of a dog that goes everywhere with us for a year, we know that we are truly making a difference and having a positive impact on the world.”

Roberti plans to continue her work with The Seeing Eye for as long as she can. At Arcadia, she’s motivated to find what she enjoys doing most and working toward a career along that path.

“I have had so many different interests from such a young age, and Arcadia is already helping me narrow them down,” Roberti said. “I can’t wait to try out all of the interesting courses Arcadia has to offer, meet with faculty, get internships, and work with my advisor to find the exact career path for me. I have so much drive to have a prosperous career, and I am looking forward to focusing on a more specific goal soon enough.”