Hadley Middle School students were challenged Thursday (Dec. 3) to start a Chain Reaction of Kindness.
“Look for the best in people,” they were told. “It will help eliminate prejudice.”
The message was delivered by Larry Scott, whose niece, Rachel, was the first to lose her life in the Columbine High School shootings in 1999.
Find out what's happening in Homer Glen-Lockportfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
He now travels the country, inspiring others to replace acts of violence, bullying and negativity with acts of respect, kindness and compassion.
His visit to Hadley was sponsored by the school’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). The group sponsored a similar visit last school year by another representative from Rachel’s Challenge.
Find out what's happening in Homer Glen-Lockportfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“This is a very, very important assembly,” Principal Kristen Schroeder told students as they gathered in the school gymnasium to hear Scott speak.
The room was silent as Scott shared news clips and video taken that day at Columbine High School when 12 students and one teacher lost their lives in a senseless act committed by two classmates.
“That’s a day I will never forget,” Scott told students. “That’s a day I hope you never have to see.”
Scott’s own two children -- Jeff, a senior, and Sarah, a sophomore, -- were at school that day. Jeff was in another part of the building when the shootings occurred while Sarah was in the cafeteria where the boys tried to ignite a propane bottle.
“My daughter had to run for her life that day,” he said.
In the weeks following Rachel’s death, her family discovered six diaries and journals that the high school junior kept. Each one spoke about wanting to “reach the unreached” and starting a chain reaction of kindness and compassion.
“I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same,” she wrote. “People will never know how far a little kindness can go.”
Scott encouraged students to take Rachel’s Challenge by reaching out to one another, looking for the best in people and speaking with kindness.
“You’re words are powerful,” he said. “It matters what we say to each other.”
Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/homer33c?fref=ts&ref=br_tf
e
