Rachel Joy Scott was the first girl killed in the Columbine shooting in 1999. Scott was a girl that lived by compassion and kindness, who wanted to help people and change the world.  

          Rachel’s Challenge is a program that her father, Darrell Scott, founded because he was not going to let Rachel’s message of compassion die with her.  

         The foundations of this program are six diaries that the Scott family found after Rachel’s death, and the essay she wrote before the shooting. They also found her handprint traced on the back of her dresser with a message inside it that said, “These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott, and will someday touch millions of hearts.”  

            Mrs. Deers, a teacher at Central High School, brought this program to the administrators of the district to make it happen. All the principals in the valley were very supportive and agreed to the program.  

            “When you go back and look at what this is all about it goes with what we want to do with our students,” said Principal Jon Bilbo.  

            With the help of sponsors around town, including Alpine Bank, the district was able to pay for Rachel’s Challenge to come to the Grand Valley.  

            Rachel’s Challenge starts with an exposure assembly at 7:30 a.m., which will last about an hour, and after that there will be a poster outside to sign up for Friends of Rachel. Friends of Rachel is a group of students that want to be more involved with the Challenge and want to help make our school a better place with the help of our administration.  

            Bilbo said as a school we want to represent PRIDE and Rachel’s Challenge goes hand-in-hand with that. The administration wants to help new students feel welcome. “That’s what it’s all about, is trying to commit to be a better person,” Bilbo stated.  

            Administration plans on setting goals with the Friends of Rachel to continue progress throughout the year. At the beginning of the second semester Mr. Bilbo hopes to come back with a refresher assembly and possibly get Darrell Scott to come speak. “If we get committed we could really start something,” Bilbo said.  

            This program is designed to make an impact. Last year there were 3,484 presentations made to 1,315,370 people, and this year the numbers continue to rise.  

            Other school administrators that have had Rachel’s Challenge come to their school have said they noticed a significant change in the student body, and our administrators hope to see the same positive change at GJHS and other schools in the district.  

            Darrell Scott hopes to see Rachel’s compassion continue on through millions of teenagers and communities. “I have a theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same,” Rachel Scott said.

What now?

The spill began at the Deepwater Horizon well on April 20 after an explosion that killed 11 and opened up the floodgates for incomprehensible amounts of oil to spew into the Gulf.

                Oil spilled at a rate of somewhere between 35 to 60 thousand barrels a day until July 15, when a temporary cap was placed on the damaged well.  

As a result of the mess, Americans can expect to see the Obama administration lead a push towards more stringent oil rig safety regulations after investigations have found that both BP and the Government played a role in creating the problem. 

The Deepwater Horizon rig was allowed to be managed unsafely, an investigative report by the Associated Press says. 

 The report alleges that “the federal Minerals Management Service conducted at least 16 fewer inspections aboard the Deepwater Horizon than it should have,” and also points out that “the rig was allowed to operate without safety documentation.”

Political fallout has only just begun.

 The MMS was reorganized into the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement, or BOEMRE in June in order to more effectively manage oil drilling operations.  However, more regulatory measures can be expected on Capitol Hill’s docket.

“In a perfect world, the feds would be able to regulate oil rigs,” Senior Joey Frampton said. “People in charge of domestic drilling need to be held accountable.”

Investigations into the causes of the spill have only begun, and controversy is now rampant over the President’s role in the process.

Junior Caden Gaurmer wasn’t impressed.

“It took so long for the federal government to do anything about the oil spill,” he said. “[They didn’t] allow the Louisiana Governor to put up barriers in the ocean to stop the oil from spreading to the coast.”

            Whatever happens will be sure to ignite controversy in Washington as Democrats expect to push for more regulatory measures to bar such problems against a strong GOP resistance.

“A lot of Republicans have their hands deep in oil money,” Frampton said.  “It’s clear that Republicans don’t want to [work] with Dems and vice-versa.”

However,  Washington D.C. is not the only area in the limelight.  Aside from this largely political drama is the tragic plight of Gulf Coast’s people, many of whom have suffered economically.

Oil has infiltrated nearly the entire Gulf coast ranging from Texas to Florida, obscuring vast areas of seawater, washing up on beaches, and causing all sorts of trouble.  The fishing industry, which plays a major role in the economy of the area, has been devastated.

Frampton visited the Eastern coast of Texas earlier this summer and saw the damage firsthand.

 “I had a conversation with a shrimp salesman who said that it’s amazing how much the shrimp industry has been affected.  A lot of fishermen have to find other jobs,” he said. 

The commercial fishing industry was closed down by the Food and Drug administration in an endeavor to avoid contaminated seafood ending up on consumer’s plates.   However, the agency has not given a timeline for re-opening the Gulf, and with each day that passes, the 600 million dollar industry employing thousands of people loses valuable revenue. 

In response, BP has started a 20 billion dollar claims fund to repay Gulf-area workers whose incomes have been affected.

A press release by BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward states, “we have fully accepted our obligations as a responsible party…our top priority is to contain the spill, clean up the oil and mitigate the damage to the Gulf coast community.  We will not rest until the job is done.”

“BP should step in and compensate these people,” Frampton said. “They need to be held responsible.  That isn’t the [federal government’s] job.”

Junior Brandon Mills agreed, saying, “It should probably be paid by B.P.  My tax money doesn’t deserve to get wasted because of [the spill].”

Regardless of what happens as the process of cleaning up ensues, the spill is sure to have long-lasting effects on American oil industry and on its people, including students at GJHS.  

“It did not give oil a good reputation,” Gaurmer said. “I do think that this accident is going to be used as an example that oil should no longer be a part of the nation. I have faith in the American people that they won’t let that happen.”

     However, the team coaches were unaware they were violating Colorado High School Athletic Association’s by-law 2310.1, which states that eighth graders may not practice or compete on the varsity team until they have finished their eighth-grade year.

     “We went to the athletic director, (Greg) King, to make sure allowing (the eighth graders) to do some weights activities with us was OK,” head coach Robbie Owens said.  “King gave us permission.”

     After permission was granted, eighth graders participated in afterschool weightroom activities with Owens for about five weeks.

     However, someone registered a complaint to Paul Cain, Mesa County Valley School District 51 Athletic/Activities Director.

     “I don’t know who reported us,” Principal Jon Bilbo said.  “We made a mistake, and we want to make sure we don’t do it again.”

     Owens and Bilbo self-reported the mistake to CHSAA, and the team was put on a CHSAA restricted list.

     “The restricted list is a sanction that says that the school will not go to the (state) playoffs until such time they are taken off,” Bert Borgmann, CHSAA assistant commissioner, said. “Our expectations are that if (a team) breaks a rule, they self-report.  We have what we believe to be an appropriate penalty that we have to apply.”

     After being put on the restricted list, school officials were told that they would not be allowed to play in any postseason games.

     “Initially, when we got the letter of restriction, I was very concerned.  We had a conference call with CHSAA.  If we didn’t have their assurance that it would be lifted, obviously it would be a downer,” Owens said.

     For the team to be taken off the list, they had to go through an appeal process.  The appeal packet was put together by the new GJHS athletic director Ned Pollert, who filled King’s position after his retirement last spring. The packet was sent to the commissioner of CHSAA.

     “The plan of correction was split between myself, Mr. Cain, Mr. Bilbo and Coach Owens,” Pollert said. 

     The team is hoping the CHSAA executive committee will look at their appeal and remove them from the restricted list.

     “We are hoping they’ll honor our request.  We’re hoping they’ll look and pull us off,” Bilbo said.

     Owens and Bilbo are sure that the team will be taken off the list.

     “I’m confident that it will be lifted.  We went through the appeal process for CHSAA,” Owens said.

     Cain was disappointed with the incident.

     “The coaches did what they should. They talked to their athletic director.  That is what’s so disappointing because Robbie did go talk to Mr. King,” Cain said.

     King was unavailable for a comment, failing to return phone messages.

     To make sure an incident like this does not happen again, preventive measures are being taken in the school.

     “We need our coaches to be aware of the CHSAA rules.  We are putting out a coach’s handbook with by-laws to reinforce it,” Bilbo said.

     The commissioner looked over the appeal packet at the executive committee meeting on Aug. 12-14 and decided they would make a final decision at the October meeting.

     “They want to watch the school for the next seven weeks,” Cain said. “We’ve been assured they will be taken off, but they are waiting until the October meeting.”

     As for the players, they are practicing and gearing up for the season ahead of them.

     “We keep up our intensity. Nothing slows us down,” junior linebacker Aaron Minnick said.

     Senior lineman Cody Cottrell agreed, saying, “Nothing really (changed in the team’s spirits). We knew Owens would take care of it.”

     As the team and the school await an answer from CHSAA, they are being open to the public.

“We have nothing to hide,” Bilbo said.  “We want to do it the right way.”