HAMDEN — Everybody seems to agree that Heidi has a way about her.

She is so popular, in fact, that she can’t walk between classes without getting stopped in the hallway.

But Hamden High School’s new “it girl” isn’t human — she’s a three-year-old yellow Labrador retriever.

A trained service dog for the Yale Police Department, Heidi and her handler Rich Simons have visited the school several times over the past month with the goal of bringing comfort and joy to students and staff.

The pair lingered inside the school’s front entrance late Wednesday morning when 17-year-old Justin Tolson walked out of an adjoining hallway.

“Can I pet the dog?” he asked Simons.

And so the rush began. Heidi, who wore a Hamden Green Dragons handkerchief and a collar with fake green flowers to show her school spirit, barely got a moment to herself as one student after another stopped to say hello.

There was 16-year-old Ka’ela Edwards, a sophomore whose slow, shy smile settled in as Heidi lay down with her head in Edwards’ lap.

There was Jazmine Gathers, also 16, part of a gaggle of students who stopped to greet Heidi.

“Today was just a down day for Hamden,” Gathers said. “We needed something to lighten our spirit.”

The town has suffered two student deaths in the past month. On May 9, 15-year-old Elijah Gomez, a freshman on the football team, was shot dead while walking home from school.

Less than two weeks later, 16-year-old town resident Isschar Howard drowned in Lyme, according to his obituary, which says he attended Hamden High School and the Hamden Collaborative Learning Center.

Heidi first came to the high school a few days after Gomez’s death, according to Student Resource Officer Jeremy Brewer.

“I just love that she’s here. It just takes all the anxiety away,” said Laura DeAngelis, a paraprofessional who called excitedly to Heidi from the library when she spotted the dog Wednesday.

Having Heidi in the school “just puts a calmness over you,” she said.

“It’s been a rough year at Hamden High School,” DeAngelis said. “I highly recommend (schools having service dogs) throughout our state.”

Simons, the Yale police officer and Heidi’s handler, is a longtime believer in using dogs to break down barriers. When he joined the Yale Police Department 29 years ago, he said, he had trouble getting some students to speak with him.

The agency did not have a therapy dog at the time, but that did not discourage Simons, who opted to bring his two six-month-old Rottweiler puppies to campus.

They were a hit.

“This dog is a gamechanger for community policing,” Simons said of Heidi. “(Having a dog) starts a conversation.”

Simons asked many of the Hamden students who approached Heidi whether they had dogs of their own, and many did.

But Simons even got one student who said she was afraid of dogs to pet the friendly lab.

Everything about Heidi is calming. She does not bark or jump. She follows Simons’ commands, from “shake” to “peek-a-boo,” a trick in which  she pops in between Simons’ legs.

She was provided by a New York-based organization called Puppies Behind Bars, which runs a program in which inmates spend months training service dogs.

Heidi joined the Yale Police Department in September 2020, when she became the first Ivy League police therapy dog, according to Anthony Campbell, the agency’s assistant chief.

“Particularly during COVID when many people were feeling isolated, were feeling distant … we wanted to have a way to be able to reach out to the community,” Campbell said.

With Heidi’s popularity surging, Yale is considering getting a second service dog, he said.

“Heidi’s been in serious demand since the Buffalo event and as well as the school shooting in Uvalde,” said Campbell.

Heidi not only provides support when tragedy impact the Yale community but also meets with students who just want to say hello. Students can request meetings with Heidi using the LiveSafe app, said Simons.

The popular lab makes plenty of off-campus trips, too. Simons said the duo planned to visit Fairfield Prep  Thursday in the wake of the stabbing death of 17-year-old James McGrath.

Heidi recently went to Bridgeport to visit Dominick Krankall, a six-year-old burn victim, according to Simons.

Then there are Heidi’s visits to Hamden High School, where Brewer, the SRO, hopes to soon have an in-house therapy dog.

Asked Wednesday what impact Heidi has on students, he simply pointed to a group of teens enjoying her company.

“You’re looking at it,” he said. “(The students) just light up.”