Education Understanding Eating Disorders

Earlier this fall I was contacted by a Wall Street Journal reporter working on a story about the “freshman fifteen.” She sought information about how colleges and universities help first-year students avoid that so-called prevalent weight gain. Looking for Holy Cross-specific information to respond to the inquiry, I contacted Fran Taylor, the College’s director of wellness programming. Fran explained we don’t have a freshman-fifteen problem; rather, we have some students with eating disorders. I had already read a draft of our cover story on the topic, so I’d anticipated that answer and explained this to the interested reporter. She ended up interviewing Linda Nardella, director of dining services, about her staff’s efforts to assist our students in making healthy food choices. The article, “The Dining-Hall Diet,” appeared in the Nov. 7 edition of the paper.

Our cover is a deliberately arresting depiction of the impact an eating disorder may have on a young person. The artist, Lauren Dehler ’04, explains that her painting was influenced by a photograph she saw in her Introduction to Psychology class text. Lauren is a NEED peer educator who works to encourage healthy attitudes among her peers at Holy Cross. You may read more about Lauren and the NEED team on Page 14.

We selected this sensitive topic as a cover story because it’s a challenge faced not only by some of our students but by young people nationwide and, perhaps, by someone you know. We thought you’d like to know how Holy Cross students are working to help their peers, and that the College’s Counseling Center is on top of the issue, providing assistance to students dealing with these serious challenges to their health.

We hope the stunning nature of the cover won’t overwhelm your ability to notice some design changes launched with this issue of Holy Cross Magazine (HCM). We strive to keep the content of the magazine fresh, interesting and thought provoking. Likewise, we want the look and feel—the design—to support and enhance the quality of the content.

Collaborating with Christine Koch of Knockout Graphics, the magazine team set out to develop a cleaner, better organized, more “modern” look. The team, led by editor Jack O’Connell ’81, spent months poring over dozens of magazines, selecting our favorite elements and details. Molly Fang (HCM designer), Joyce O’Connor Davidson (contributing writer/editor from the Development Office), Jack and I had fun with this creative process, and we hope you’ll be pleased with the results.

As always, we welcome your reactions, suggestions and constructive criticism about the content and/or the design.