Corsets, foster-student support, disrespecting teachers: This week from HS Insider

Every week, we bring you a roundup of students' stories from High School Insider. Students from more than 100 Southern California schools contribute to High School Insider and post their stories on latimes.com. If you – or your students – have stories to tell and would like to participate, check out this link.

Corsets on the rebound

Are young women really wearing corsets as an alternative to dieting? Daniel Pearl student Aileen Kangauary, 17, reports that they are indeed adopting these 16th century constriction devices. She decided to try it herself. "As a corset wearer, I would have to agree that the process of achieving the ideal body shape with this device is essentially really painful and bothersome," she writes. "In just two weeks, I was able to see fast results, but the side effects made me stop using it."

New foster student counselors come to LAUSD schools

New academic support measures were created last year to help foster students in Los Angeles Unified School District schools. Ronit Sholkhoff (Cleveland) speaks with a new counselor, Araceli Gonzalez, assigned to help youth on her campus. "Due to their erratic upbringing, a number of the students developed trust issues and find it painful to open up to someone new," Sholkhoff writes. "So Gonzalez always makes a point to 'clarify her role' as a representative of LAUSD who wants to help them succeed academically."

Stop disrespecting teachers

Students need to step up and start showing some respect to some teachers. That is what Andrea Lo (Venice) thinks. She takes the example of the problem with cellphones in her school. "There’s been a consistent problem with students constantly on their phones during class and not paying attention to the teacher lecturing," she writes. "This is a sign of disrespect in the fact that the students totally disregard what a teacher has to say, as if they don’t care at all. The worst part of this is if a student refuses to hand over the phone when specifically requested by a teacher."

Interested in getting your school involved with HS Insider? Write to daniela.gerson@latimes.com for more details.

Twitter: @dhgerson