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Eric Shapiro
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Research is his game
Eric Shapiro presents findings of his research regarding media influence on adolescent males’ body image. He was a presenter at the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children conference in Princeton on March 1.
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Tenafly
Informing his peers
High school student brings issues to the forefront
By Michelle Sartor
News Editor
Published March 19, 2008
Eric Shapiro knows what it’s like to conduct research, share his findings and bring about change. He has participated in two separate projects that require a two-year commitment.
His most recent research studies body image in adolescent males. "I’ve always been a reader of magazines like GQ. I felt like over the years, how I needed to look was based on publications like that. I wanted to look into that topic. A lot of research has been done on girls. I felt like the same thing happened to me as a boy. I wanted to prove or disprove that," said Shapiro, a junior at Tenafly High School.
To begin, he read magazine articles and obtained the transcript of a conference held at Columbia University last spring on topics such as the lack of proper role models. Shapiro said, "I sifted through and got what was pertinent to my topic."
He conducted an online survey of 125 adolescent males from across the country, which he defined as those in sixth through 12th grade.
He found that 52.4 percent of adolescent males cared what others think of their body and 69.4 percent thought that changing their appearance in some way would make them happier.
Shapiro is participating in the ROGATE program, which stands for Resources Offered for Gifted And Talented Education. Students complete independent research and present their findings in a 12-minute oral presentation to a panel of judges. The first year, students try to receive a bronze or silver award. In the second year, they attempt to win gold.
Last spring, Shapiro received a silver award for his research. He hopes for gold this spring.
And he is on his way to that distinction.
The ROGATE program requires students to present their findings to a body outside of their schools. Shapiro gave an hour-long presentation at the 17th annual conference of the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children on March 1. Teachers, gifted students and their parents attended the Princeton conference.
The ROGATE program is nothing new to Shapiro. He received bronze and gold honors while in sixth grade for a project about eating habits.
Diane Schulthes, staff developer for curriculum and coordinator of the gifted and talented program at Tenafly Middle School, became Shapiro’s mentor when he was in sixth grade and helped guide him through the ROGATE process, which is one of nine programs she coordinates.
"Eric came to me. He was most passionate about what kids were eating for lunch at the middle school. They were making very poor choices. He set out to prove that the reason kids were doing this was that they knew very little about nutrition. He interviewed cafeteria staff, doctors, etc. He found out the average middle school student didn’t know anything about the food pyramid or the choices they should be making," said Schulthes.
Shapiro’s research led to changes in the middle school’s cafeteria, including more healthy options, said Schulthes.
She said Shapiro came to her again while in high school to study his current topic of media influence. Schulthes helped him through the process again and suggested that he apply for the March 1 conference.
Although being recognized with ROGATE awards is a bonus, students aren’t in the program for that. Schulthes said, "It isn’t about the award. It’s a piece of cardboard. If you’re doing two years of work for a piece of cardboard, it’s not worth it. I’ve done research. It’s really about getting a message out. I ask students the ‘So what?’ question. That gives them the bridge to get the gold. It’s all about getting a message out."
Shapiro hopes his research can touch others and bring issues forward. "Today media influence is so accessible to everybody, we’re made to feel inadequate at times. It’s something everyone can relate to."
E-mail: sartor@northjersey.com or call 201-894-6703
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