WHS Reshaping Reality Club Raises Awareness About Body Image Acceptance and Eating Disorders

The following article has been contributed by the Reshaping Reality Club at Wilton High School.

Body image and eating disorders have had a peak in recent years. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, 28.8 million Americans have or are suffering from an eating disorder, not to mention that young people between the ages of 14-25 are at most risk for an eating disorder.

This school year, four Wilton High School students started a club about this rising issue among teens that is continuing to progress. These facts and statistics came as a shock to WHS sophomores Jolene Massad, Vivian Eckert, Ella Dempster and Nina Rutherford, and they decided they needed a place where students can feel safe and can bring awareness to these issues.

They opened a chapter of Reshaping Reality, a high school afterschool club that was first started at Staples High School in Westport. Reshaping Reality is a club dedicated to promoting body positivity within the Wilton High School and Wilton community. The club raises awareness about eating disorders, body dysmorphia, diet culture, and much more, while also engaging in meaningful discussions with the group members.

Since it opened its doors at Wilton High School in October 2021, the club’s members have accomplished a lot. The club has discussed varying issues related to body image and eating disorders, fundraised for the National Eating Disorder Association, and had guest speaker Reane Regher, founder of Free to be Talks, virtually speak to the club on Feb. 1.

Free to be Talks is a program that empowers young people to reach their full potential by developing media literacy awareness, cultivating individual strengths, building resilience to social pressures that impact body image, and nurturing a positive social environment.

“Our guest speaker was amazing, she had so much to say but I think the most meaningful thing she told us about was the importance of spending your energy in places that need it. ‘You have a limited amount of energy every day and I think placing it somewhere like how your body looks is not a way to protect that energy,’” Reshaping Reality vice president Nina Rutherford said.

Reshaping Reality has three more guest speakers lined up to speak to the club before the end of the school year. For more information, email co-presidents Jolene Massad and Vivian Eckert.

As the club has grown over the past few months, they have decided to adopt another program that Staples High School’s chapter also runs. A presentation called “Middle Schooler in the Mirror” is a presentation to reach out to middle school students, so they can break the cycle and stigma against these dangerous behaviors. As club members educate themselves about body image issues and eating disorders — through research, school staff, and their guest speakers — they will form a presentation and event curated specifically for the middle schoolers.

“It will be looking back at middle school and things we would have wished that we heard from our own parents. We are first-hand sources, we have experienced this, we have seen this, we have grown up with this, we want to help as many people to not fall through the cracks of negative body image,” explained Massad.

Middle Schooler in the Mirror is set to take place on May 20 at Trackside Teen Center. More information will be available within the upcoming months about this event.

Club members are eager for this presentation and what’s next to come for their club. They have been working hard and planning things that focus on their goal of raising awareness for these issues in the community. Reshaping Reality has been fundraising through bake sales, which has proven difficult through the pandemic, and participating in the Club Grant food drive hosted by the Wilton High School Executive Board. The goal is to raise as many non-perishable food items in support of the Wilton Food Pantry and the club with the most amount will receive a grant. Eckert has said that a percentage of the money raised this year will go towards the National Eating Disorder Association, some towards funding speakers for the club, and the other percentage will go towards Middle Schooler in the Mirror.

Anyone who would like to support Wilton High School’s Reshaping Reality club can donate via Venmo (@Vivian-Eckert). Donors can specify that donations fund specific categories (general, NEDA, club speakers, or Middle Schooler in the Mirror).