Accepting their unique bodies, accepting themselves

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:24:24 GMT

By Jenny Park and Kristen Cabrera

Abigail O'Neall
James Chu lost weight not for vanity, but for sports.

The National Institute on Media and the Family reports that 78 percent of 17-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies. Such figures are more than mere statistics for some students. Take junior Becca Cavanaugh, for example. “I like the way I look, but I feel self conscious sometimes when I’m with my friends, because I am so tall,” she says. At 5 feet, 10 inches, Cavanaugh says she’s most insecure about her height during school dances, where she her head sticks out above her friends’. At the other height extreme, junior Anastasia Hedrick – at 4 feet, 10.5 inches – has accepted her appearance despite cracks from others. “People say comments like, ‘ You’re short,’ and I obviously know that,” she says. Similarly, sophomore Tomasso Casolaro, 4 feet, 11 inches, says middle school was tough. Friends and his mom helped him through, he says, recalling that his mom assured him that he was a “late bloomer.” Even though Casolaro remains shorter than peers, he has accepted his size. “It’s not like I’m deformed in the face. The problem was that people judged me superficially, but once they knew me, the problem went away.” Being short has actually helped Casolaro. “For last year’s Latin Convention, I was the only one small enough to ride in the chariot race. I was pulled like a jockey, and the wind rushed through my hair.” Like Casolaro, junior Olivia Morrell was once picked on for her appearance. Students misjudged her, she says, when she lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. “In seventh grade, I started taking Adderall, and it made me drop about 15 pounds in two weeks,” Morrell says. “People thought I was anorexic, and it made me upset. I was embarrassed to say it was a result of my Attention Deficit Disorder medicine.” But junior Biz Schaeffler, a field hockey goalie who describes herself as athletically built, seems unfazed by body image. “Of course I’m a little self-conscious; everyone is,” she says. “But after awhile, I’ve come to terms with how I look. Being skinny is the least of my worries, especially with the stress of junior year.” Weight, of course, can also be a concern for males. Junior James Chu says he ran 7 miles a day to drop 30 pounds freshman year. Why? Sports. “Losing weight wasn’t to boost my confidence. It was just to become a better player for lacrosse.”

The Griffin

Accepting their unique bodies, accepting themselves