Students ask to join fight against eating disorders

Jessica Garrison

NEWPORT-MESA - Student leaders at all four district high schools

Tuesday called for school officials to involve students in their efforts

to combat eating disorders.

“They need to work with student councils, because we see this every

day,” said Galel Fajardo, who represents Costa Mesa High School on the

Board of Education.

In response to a Daily Pilot special report on eating disorders and

Ritalin abuse at Corona del Mar High School, Fajardo said he thought

eating disorders were also prevalent on his campus. But, he said, the use

of Ritalin, an amphetamine commonly prescribed to treat attention deficit

disorder, as an appetite suppressant is almost unheard of.

“Eating disorders are a big problem,” Fajardo said. “I really hope the

school district wants to help with it ... and won’t let it go. People die

every day from this and we need to work to stop it.”

Fajardo, along with other elected student leaders from Costa Mesa High

School and those from Estancia and Newport Harbor High School, had just

returned from a retreat for student leaders at UC Santa Barbara.

At the retreat, which was attended by students from all over Orange

County, speaker after speaker raised the issue of eating disorders,

although the topic of the retreat was leadership.

Students from Corona did not attend.

Fajardo said he left the retreat determined to raise awareness of

eating disorders on his campus, and when he saw the Pilot’s report, it

only strengthened his resolve.

“I would be glad to take student body money and buy a speaker to come

down to school and talk about the dangers,” he said. “We’ve got to get

people aware.”

Alexandra Robinson, who is in charge of major events at Newport Harbor

High School and also attended the conference, said she and others from

Newport Harbor had been impressed by a speaker who urged students to love

themselves more.

While Alexandra said she does not believe eating disorders are as

prevalent on her campus as they are at Corona, she said she thinks all

girls growing up in Newport Beach struggle with the issue.

“I’ve talked to other girls from Orange County, and they think we’re

crazy,” she said. “We always think we’re fat.”

Claire Duggins, student body president at Corona, also pledged her

support to combat eating disorders.

“I would be totally willing to work on the eating disorder issue,”

Duggins said. But she questioned whether bringing paid speakers to the

school would really help.

“Speakers really don’t work,” Claire said, noting that listening to

students’ real-life stories is much more powerful -- such as when Corona

student Ann Hatfield talked about her battle with anorexia.

“I think we should work not just on eating disorders, but also address

the pressure issue,” Claire added. “It’s OK not to be perfect.”

Megan Fay, student body president at Estancia High School, said her

school “has other problems before eating disorders.” Still, she agreed

that students should be involved in any effort to address eating

disorders on her campus.

Serene Stokes, president of the school board, praised students for

their support, as did Corona del Mar Principal Don Martin.

“I think that’s what we need,” Stokes said. “We need to get students

involved. They can work with the problem and assess the problem much

better. They can encourage kids not to do this.”

But Stokes added that “it’s got to be a multi-approach. We’ve got to

have professionals. We’ve got to have parents. We’ve got to set it as a

priority and move on it in many different ways.”