HARRISBURG, Pa. – Kate Veronikis eats once a day, just something small.

Although she wears size 00 jeans, she hates looking in the mirror at her legs and stomach, which look too large to her.

In the fall, a school assignment helped her confront her problems and seek help.

Art teacher Michael Bricker asked the students in his black-and-white photography class at Central Dauphin High School to confront their deepest fears.

They dealt with issues in their lives: discrimination, a mother’s death from breast cancer, a brother’s suicide. Some, such as Veronikis, said the project changed their lives.

“We all carry around baggage, kids and adults alike, but too often students don’t know how to deal with these problems,” Bricker said. “They aren’t equipped to deal with them. And they often believe they are alone in their struggles.”

“I wanted to encourage students to look into themselves and to write, draw and photograph the struggle, the pain, the triumph, everything,” Bricker said. “I wanted them to talk to me, to each other, to make connections and to get past the stigma attached … to admitting fears, struggles or problems.”

Often, adults only learn about teenagers’ struggles after a tragedy, said Bricker, who added that students could opt out of a public exhibit of the artwork at a local gallery.

Art therapy could help students, Bricker said. “I also wanted them to come out stronger on the other side, to become better equipped to handle future obstacles and to also recognize and help those in need around them. … I want parents and the general public to be proud of students for who they are, for their perseverance and their imperfections, rather than merely for their successes and accomplishments.”

Bricker lived through loss in his childhood, too. When he was 6, his younger brother died. “I have talked to some students about my situation,” he said. “I need to set an example for the kids.”

He told students: “Part of the measure of you as a person is how many times you get knocked down and you get back up.”

Each student’s project represents the worst thing that’s ever happened to him or her, Bricker said.

Dylan Sites’ project focused on his younger brother Danny, who committed suicide in September 2006.

“It’s a dominant part of my life,” said Sites, who felt some hesitation about what people would think or what they would see.

The photos of Danny’s piano and his grave don’t show who he was, said Sites, 16, of Paxtonia.

“When they see these pictures, they don’t understand what the pain was,” Sites said. “He was bullied every day for five years.”

The assignment forced everybody to confront their fears and let them out, Brina McCarthy said. “I think it’s a really good thing.”

McCarthy, 17, lost her mother, Kim, to cancer in January 2007. Her fear is “never being able to see her again, that unbearable feeling.”

Anila Bhatti’s photo shows a close-up of her cousin in a head scarf, a name tag stuck over her mouth saying: “Hello, my name is Terrorist.”

Bhatti, 17, of Lower Paxton Township, a Muslim who wears a head scarf, confronted her fear of being misunderstood and labeled, she said.

“When I was younger, people had jokingly called me a terrorist. It heightened after 9/11,” she said. “I obviously look different, but I was born here. I grew up here.” Her father went to her same high school.

Bhatti’s little sister startled her one day by asking: “Did you know people think we’re terrorists?”

“I realized how strong the stereotype is,” Bhatti said. “My 8-year-old sister shouldn’t have to know about that.”

Bricker helped students flesh out their ideas, confront their fears and talk with one another about their problems.

“They’re such good kids,” Bricker said. “We’re so quick as a society to jump on their mistakes. Let’s acknowledge imperfections. Let’s get past the stigma of perfection. I don’t have any friends that are perfect, and I don’t want any.”

That message seems to be getting through.

“Even if I don’t get the best grade on the project, it helped me to confront myself and it also gave me the courage to talk to someone,” said Veronikis, who is now in counseling.

“I think I’m just going to be proud of myself that I finally admitted it to myself,” Veronikis said. “I’m getting help.”

For more information on their exhibit, visit www.progressivegalleries.com.