A lot of folks have probably chosen to avoid meeting Trevor Dickinson and Jordan Gregoire just because of the way they look. If you are one of those people, you've missed a lot.

Trevor was into the punk and metal scene before he enrolled in Grade 8 at NDSS. It was that scene that influenced the way he presented himself for the next four or five years.

When I first met him a month or so ago, three big spikes crowned his head, studs adorned his hands and wrists and he had at least three of four piercings in his face. He had had that hair style for at least four years and wouldn't you know, he got a hair cut just days before I met him the second time to take his picture.

Since our first meeting, Trevor has transferred to Cedar Secondary to take their cooking program. He plans on going to Malaspina next year. Cooking will be his fall back position if he doesn't make it in the music scene with his band, "Impetuous Youth".

He cut his hair because he thought it would help him get a job in a restaurant.

Behind the "scary" look is a young man who has been on the honor role for the past year even though he had trouble in his first couple of years of high school. He failed Socials in Grade eight and English in Grade nine but he has managed to catch them both up over the years and expects to graduate in June.

When he was sixteen, Trevor saw a teacher cry when she saw one of her students being bullied.

"I realized then how hard it is to be a teacher," he told me, "and I decided I no longer needed to be a jerk to them. After that I also had some great teachers like Mr. Elwood and Mr. Brewer and I got my education back on track."

Even though he was picked on a lot over the early years in high school, Trevor persevered with his band, found them gigs, and became a music promoter. He brings in punk bands from the mainland and beyond and presents them in drug and alcohol-free venues - You see Trevor has never drunk alcohol, smoked cigarettes or marijuana or done any other drugs.

Trevor Dickinson is not at all the kind of teenager you might expect him to be on first glance.

Jordan Gregoire is multi-studded, wears a lot of black and has black lines drawn on his face and, like Trevor, is not at all the kind of person you might expect him to be.

Jordan died his hair in Grade 10 and "tried on different images" over the next few years but it wasn't until Grade 12 that he had the confidence to go for his current look although he has felt that way inside for several years he told me.

"With all the black some people might think I am depressed," he smiled, "but I'm not. I just feel comfortable with myself this way and as long as my friends accept me, and they do, I'm a happy guy."

Jordan says his grades aren't as good as they could be, he's a "B" student, but although he works hard at his studies, he spends a lot of his spare time involved in extra curricular activities. He’s heavily involved in theatre projects in the school, initiated an Improv Camp and is an active member of the Grade 12 Leadership class.

With tuition fees going up as they are, Jordan plans on working and saving his money next year and then going to Malaspina. He wants to be a teacher ... and he'll make a great one.

Today's teens aren't really so scary. Are they?