Education opportunities continue to grow for children in Reno as the community is celebrating the grand opening of a new charter school, Coral Academy of Science Northwest Elementary School.
A major highlight of this event is the dedication of the new school library honoring a Coral Middle and High School alumnus Chantal Hager.
Chantal graduated from Coral Academy High School in 2010 but unfortunately less than a year later she died of bulimia at age 19.
Her father is a major patron of the institution and is advocating for all elementary schools to start teaching their students about eating disorders.
"We expected this breakthrough of eating disorders now being in elementary schools," said Robert Hager, Chantal's father. "That issue will do a lot, accomplish a lot in terms of helping people prevent suffering in Washoe County."
Chantal is described as bright, empathetic, and very smart.
"She was a very lovely, active student," said Feyzi Tandogan, Executive Director of Coral Academy of Science.
"Chantal was somebody who had a great amount of empathy for other people. She was more empathic than anyone else I've ever known," adds Robert.
The school library honoring Chantal provides all kinds of books and other resources to help teach young children about eating disorders.
Chantal's brother, Ryane Hagar, tells us that while he misses her every day, he's excited to see how her library will help educate the students.
"It's a bit of a tragedy that this is the way that we have to talk about things like this, but I do think it's going to have a positive effect on both the community and students here at the school," said Ryane.
While some may say that elementary students are too young to learn about eating disorders, many argue that middle and high school are too late.
"It's incredibly important to start teaching this at an elementary age because once kids get into middle school and high school, they sort of move away from their parents' influences," said Naomi Duerr, Vice Mayor of the City of Reno.
"It gives them an opportunity to raise subjects like these and questions about things like eating disorders and mental health earlier at a younger age where intervention and advice potentially can be a little more impactful, I think,"Â Ryane explains.
"They are taught at that age that drugs are bad," said Robert. 'And the reason they are taught that because the result is it could destroy their lives or result in their death. And so, this is not any darker subject than that."
Vice Mayor Duerr says she hopes all elementary schools in the state of Nevada will eventually start teaching their students the dangers of eating disorders.
"This is a start. And I hope we take this message to all the schools and statewide," said Duerr. "I mean this is a message that's not just reserved for one school and one community. This is a message that's got to be broadcast largely."
National Eating Disorder week started on February 26th and runs through March 3rd.
If you or someone you know may be struggling with an eating disorder you can call the National Alliance for Eating Disorders at (866) 662-1235.
