Rachel’s Challenge by Chrissi Gillispie
August 30, 2010
Filed under Top Stories
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.
