Eating disorders, particularily anorexia nervosa, have the highest mortality rate, with 10% of individuals passing away within 10 years of the onset of the illness, and more attention needs to be brought to them, especially in schools!

In more recent years, eating disorders have began to bloom in younger ages, between 9-12, which is why attention from the school board should be brought to it before situations get too bad, i.e. in elementary schools.

Most schools are equipped with social workers or child and youth workers, which means that the resources are there, but they aren't being utilized as well as they could be.

I propose that changes in elementary and high schools in Waterloo Region need to take place.

The health class curriculum for grades 6-9 should be revised to include eating disorder awareness and information, as well as tips for children to stay healthy. Teachers for senior elementary grades should take part in a workshop along with some high school teachers, to be bale to better identify when a student may be struggling, and steps the school can take to help support said person.

Board-wide posters should be distributed to each school, encouraging students to seek help, or support their friends who are suffering with these disorders. The board also needs to encourage the use of ad-free homework websites.

More schools across the board should offer healthy snacks, for example, fruit once a week, instead of having vending machines with processed and really artificial foods.

Schools in the region could hold a fundraising competition with each other, to raise money for the National Eating Disorder Information Centre, other eating disorder or mental health charities, or to improve the social worker/child and youth worker programs within schools.

Even if a serious eating disorder doesn't develop, many girls, and even boys, will try to lose weight, or engage in the symptoms of an eating disorder, even if only for a short period of time.

For example, nearly 30% of Canadian ninth and tenth grade girls have taken part in weight loss behaviours such as dieting, purging, restricting food, taking diet pills, etc.

Many anti-bullying campaigns have taken place, but the consequences are not usually measured against the statistics, especially those of eating disorders. 25% of boys in high school with an average body mass index were reported being teased for their weight. Schools also warn their students about the media, but do not explain what long term effects the media has, particularly on teenage girls.

For example, even on websites constantly used by students, (example: sparknotes.com), there are dieting ads, and adverts with "tips" to lose weight, or even just clothing sites with extremely thin models.

Beginning at a young age, children are bombarded with the pressure to be perfect. In a study among five year olds, a significant amount of girls associated a diet with "food restriction, weight-loss and thinness."

This continues through elementary and high school, as 40% of tenth grade girls believed they were "too fat" or "overweight".

I am a high school student in Waterloo who knows many girls, and a few boys, who have suffered with an eating disorder, even one beginning at the young age of 11 years old. I also know many people who, while they were undiagnosed, had exhibited signs and symptoms of an eating disorder, endangering their health and well being.

I think that, in elementary and high schools, some eating disorder awareness should be woven into the health class curriculum, and promoted more around schools through anti bullying awareness programs, mental health awareness programs, and even possibly through a boardwide campaign.

Thank you to National Eating Disorder Information Centre (www.nedic.ca) whose poster I used as the photograph, and Trellis Mental Health and Development Services (http://www.trellis.on.ca/en) for their information