A few times a month when the stress of senior year gets to her, Danielle Harper, senior, heads off to a tanning salon to relax in the peace and quiet of a tanning bed. She is one of 29 percent of teens surveyed at KHS who tan according to a survey of 306 students.

“I know many girls do it to look good, but that’s not necessarily for me,” Harper said. “It’s a time I can sit in the qui- et without my phone, without distractions.”

Courtney Sack, junior, said tanning contributes to her happiness by reducing her stress and making her feel better about her skin. Sack has been tanning since freshman year and does so when she feels she is either too stressed or too pale.

“Working out and being tan makes me happy and [tanning] gives me motivation to keep [working out],” Sack said.

Megan Kukuljan, nurse at Dermatological Care Inc. of South County, understands the attraction to tanning for girls, since she tanned before her prom when she was in high school.

“It was before I knew any better. There is no good amount of tanning,” Kukuljan said. “Often for proms [or] dances, young teenage girls are tanning. It’s bad that society advocates you have to be dark to be pretty.”

Liz Wiesner, senior, works in a tanning salon and believes the opposite of Kukuljan. She thinks people who tan are discriminated against.

“I don’t think someone should judge someone based on if they tan or not,” Wiesner said. “If you are going to ac- cept someone, you have to ac- cept all of them.”

Wiesner sees no problem with tanning, if those who tan go about it in a smart manner.

“Sometimes, people have had bad experiences, and they decide tanning is bad,” she said. “Talk to a tanning consultant. Start slow, don’t come so often in the beginning.”

Kukuljan said there is no safe way to tan, unless it is done with sprays or creams. “You can’t go back on cancer,” Kukuljan said. “I can guarantee that you will age faster. It may not be now, it may not be in five years, but you will have more fine lines and wrinkles later in life.”