Three student coordinators with the Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa Association in Windsor, Ont., have received a $5,000 grant to make a music video for the song Rise Up, a song about one woman's struggle with anorexia.

Taylor O'Halloran, Bryanna Dunbar, Devon Paolini, all of Kennedy high school, have been watching as their vision comes to life.

"It's actually really crazy. All day [Tuesday] I was shaking. I'm so nervous and I just want it to be perfect," said student organizer Taylor O'Halloran.

During the planning process, art began to imitate life. O'Halloran discovered that one of her friends was struggling with eating issues. 

"It was actually really scary. I remember she she a breakdown one day and we were sitting in a park and just talking for like three hours and she was telling me all of her problems," O'Halloran said. "It just hurts to watch someone go through something like that and you just realize that this is real and this actually does happen to people that you care about because no one really talks about it."

The plan is to get people talking with this music video, shot within school walls and targeting those most vulnerable.

Those with the association say every year they help three hundred clients with eating disorders.

"It is 90 per cent female, 10 per cent male. We Have seen that there is an increase in the male population and probably the biggest increase in the young people," said interim executive director Luciana Rosu-Sieza. "Our youngest client is actually six years old if you can believe it or not."

The association's officials say they plan to include the music video in their health promotion tour. Every year they make more than 200 appearances at schools and community events.

Those involved with this production say they hope their message gets across to audiences of all ages. 

"I'm hoping that they can empathize, that they can sympathize and that they come away with a better understanding of who these people are with eating disorders," student organizer Devon Paolini said.

The group says the production will wrap sometime next week.