South Lake Students Moved by Columbine Victim’s Story, Strong Character

It’s not often that high school students sit riveted at school assemblies, but on March 30, the auditorium was completely silent, despite housing the entire student body.

The mood was somber and many students wiped away tears as they listened to the story of Rachel Joy Scott, the first person killed in the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado. Rachel’s uncle, Larry Scott, began his presentation by showing news footage and a brief documentary about the tragedy.

On April 20, 1999, two Columbine seniors embarked on a shooting spree, killing 12 students and one teacher and injuring 21 students. The killers had initially planted two bombs inside the school with the intent of killing hundreds, but when the bombs failed to detonate, they went in shooting.

Late that morning, Rachel was enjoying the first warm spring day by having her lunch on a grassy area near the school’s west entrance. When the killers began shooting, she was the first victim they claimed.

Larry recalled the sheer terror he felt that day because, in addition to his niece and nephew, he had two children who attended Columbine High School.

“My daughter was running for her life as one of the killers was trying to shoot a propane bottle to get it to explode,” he said. “I hope you never see a day like that. Believe me, you don’t want to go through it.”

Although she was only 17 when she died, Rachel was uniquely in tune with the need to make the world a better place by being kind and caring to everyone. She wrote about the subject in her diaries and in school essays. Six weeks before her death, Rachel wrote in an essay, “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. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.”

Shortly after the Columbine tragedy, Rachel’s father, Darrell, began to speak around the nation using writings and drawings from her diaries to illustrate the need for a kinder, more compassionate nation. From there, a program called Rachel’s Challenge was born.

Rachel not only wrote about kindness, but also exemplified it in all of her actions, Larry said. He shared many instances where Rachel made a positive impact on someone’s life, including welcoming a new student to school and defending a special-needs boy who was being bullied. Later, Rachel’s family learned that the boy had been planning to commit suicide, but he’d changed his mind because of Rachel’s help and friendliness.

In video footage, various friends of Rachel recalled how she had a premonition that she would die young. Just as strong as that feeling was her desire to make a positive, lasting impact on the world. She wrote about it in her diaries and told some of her teachers. She also illustrated it in an unusual place. A couple of years after her death, Rachel’s family found a tracing of her hands on the back of an old dresser with the writing, “These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch millions of people’s hearts.”

Through Rachel’s Challenge, that prediction has been realized, as the initiative has become the largest school assembly program in the United States, Larry said.

The program reminds everyone that they have the power to make permanent positive cultural change by embracing Rachel’s five challenges, which are to eliminate prejudice by looking for the best in others, setting goals and keeping a journal, choosing positive influences, practicing small acts of kindness and starting a chain reaction of kindness with family and friends.

At the conclusion of the presentation, Larry invited everyone to sign a Rachel’s Challenge banner, pledging that they accept her five challenges. In addition, a subsequent training session was held for selected students to spearhead a new school club called Friends of Rachel.

South Lake senior Simone Wheeler said she was touched by the presentation, especially by the fact that the school shooters were retaliating after being bullied in school.

“I joke with people a lot, and that’s a habit that I’m going to have to stop because it can have a huge impact and I never want to be the cause of anything like that,” Wheeler said. “I will sign the Rachel’s Challenge banner as a signature that I’m done joking like that.”

Senior Will LaMilza said he thought about his own friends after learning that Rachel’s brother had watched his two best friends get shot.

“It really made me think of my closest friends and how if I lost them, I wouldn’t know what to do,” LaMilza said. “I learned not to take things for granted and to value the people in your life. I will seriously take the challenge to start a chain reaction by talking to the most valuable people in my life and telling them how much they mean to me.”

LaMilza eloquently summarized the event's message by concluding, “Life is short, and the time should be spent doing the right things and treating others as you want to be treated.”