CHAIN REACTION

PALMER — Rachel Scott wanted make a difference in the world. On April 20, 1999, she was eating lunch with a friend outside the library of Columbine High School when she was gunned down in what was later described as the worst school shooting in U.S. history. Some say she knew her life would be a short one, but Scott wrote in her personal journals, later discovered in her bedroom, that she would be remembered for her impact on the social acceptance of all people.

Last Wednesday at the Alaska Job Corps Center in Palmer, nine years after Rachel Scott’s death, more than 220 students and community members witnessed Rachel’s Challenge, a one-hour assembly dedicated to the short life’s work of Scott, featuring film footage of the Columbine massacre, a slide show presentation and a guest speaker who presented the 17-year-old’s challenge to the world.

Roger Gossett, a career counselor at the Alaska Job Corps Center in Palmer, witnessed the Rachel’s Challenge presentation last year at Colony Middle School.

“I thought it had enough value that our students here needed to see it,” Gossett said.

Rachel’s Challenge took more than 220 students through the short life of Scott, a junior at Columbine High School who was the first victim that day, which claimed the lives of 12 students and a teacher. Interviews with Scott’s family, friends, teachers and revealing moments of her writings unveil a teenager with a big heart and dreams of a society that didn’t judge or persecute.

“I can’t express it in words,” said John Douglas, business and community liaison at the Alaska Job Corps Center. “It needed to be seen.”

The Alaska Job Corps Center’s student government, along with Gossett and Douglas, brought Rachel’s Challenge to Palmer in hopes it would change the troubled youth’s thinking.

At the Alaska Job Corps Center’s gymnasium, students aged 16 to 24 sat through three day-time assemblies, followed by a community presentation in the evening. Many left in tears. Some asked how they could help.

Two weeks after Scott’s death, her parents found a two-page essay she had written tucked under her mattress entitled “My Ethics, My Codes of Life.” In it, Scott describes the code of ethics she tried living by, including always looking for the beauty in everyone, despite their demeanor, practicing honesty, and showing compassion to everyone, regardless in how they look or act. At the end of Scott’s essay, she challenges her readers to do the same in hopes the world would become a better place to live.

 “My codes may seem like a fantasy that can never be reached,” Scott wrote, “but test them for yourself and see the kind of effect they have in the lives of the people around you. You just may start a chain reaction.”

Darrell Scott, Rachel’s father, decided shortly after the tragedy to resign from his job and speak to youth groups and communities, along with his wife, Beth. The Rachel’s Challenge Foundation was set up with a mission to motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people. As part of this work, Scott regularly tours North America, speaking at churches, schools, and youth centers about Rachel’s example. He has co-authored three books about his daughter’s life and her spirituality. His writings and speeches express a spiritual perspective on the Columbine tragedy, which he considers to be essential for the prevention of teen violence.

The presentation combines stark video footage of the Columbine High School massacre with pictures of Scott’s drawings and writings in a campaign to quell school violence, bullying and teen suicide. The Rachel’s Challenge program includes establishing Friends of Rachel clubs in schools, following the initial presentation, to sustain the campaign’s goals on a long-term basis.

Cody Hodges, a former pro-football player and the keynote speaker at Wednesday’s event, said Rachel’s Challenge is the largest high school assembly program in America.

“It promotes hope through kindness and passion,” Hodges said.

Since January of 2007, Hodges has traveled to more than 200 schools and community areas nationwide to give the one-hour presentation on the life of Rachel Scott.

Scott’s challenge, derived from her “My Ethics” essay, gives five distinct objectives: Eliminate prejudice, dare to dream, choose positive influences, use kind words and acts of random kindness, and start a chain reaction.

Scott emphasized the importance of making life goals, Hodges said, no matter what age, stating that everyone should write them down to see on a regular basis so that they won’t forget.

“Rachel believed we should give people three or four chances before we judge them on their character,” he said. “Even then its important to know what their past looks like and that there are others to help if people are rude or non-responsive.”

Hodges heard of Rachel’s Challenge when he met her brother Craig, a survivor of the 1999 shooting in Colorado. He said he was so touched by her essay and life’s story that he wanted to do something to help.

“How many of you in the past year have lost someone you love?” Hodges asked the audience at Wednesday night’s assembly. Hodges showed footage of the grisly scenes of the Columbine massacre, including the two teenage shooters setting fire to the library, students jumping out of windows and interviews with people who were there that day, leaving many viewers in tears.

“I grew up in Texas and never knew Rachel,” Hodges said. “But her story touched me enough to do this.”

Hodges told his story. Once the star quarterback at Texas Tech University on a full scholarship in 2001, he tore his shoulder during a home game and was told he would never throw a football again. For the next three years, Hodges said he was forced to sit on the bench, watching instead of playing. The desire to play football prompted him to take action and before long, he said, his strength had returned and Hodges was back playing a phenomenal season his senior year. One year later, he was recruited to quarterback for the Tennessee Titans’ pre-season in 2006.

“We all have dreams,” Hodges said. “Rachel left behind six diaries that showed that she wanted to be a writer.”

In one of those diaries, Hodges said, Scott wrote in bold letters “I won’t be labeled as average. I’m going to have an impact on the world.”

During her early high school years, Scott befriended a student who looked and acted differently than the other teens. In film clips, Adam Kyler describes how Scott treated him like a human being, not the oddball at Columbine that he was bullied for.

“It’s those little acts of kindness that Rachel was known for,” Kyler said.

Other students and faculty at Columbine told a similar story of Scott’s random acts of kindness in the presentation. The message was loud and clear.

A banner stating “I Accept Rachel’s Challenge” hung from the Job Corps gymnasium walls where presenter Cody Hodges asked attendants to write their names and sentiments. He asked everyone to think about making a difference in people’s lives, to follow Rachel’s Challenge. He asked students and community members to start their own chain reaction, to call five people that are close and tell them they love them.

“A herd is measured by the size of their heart,” read one comment on the banner.

Hodges said Rachel knew she would have a short life, from her diary entries and the conversations she had with her close friends. Some say she knew she would die young.

“It’s made these students become more aware of the people around them and helps them think about how they’d want to be treated themselves,” Douglas said. “Hopefully they will want to make a difference in the world as they walk through it.”

To learn more about Rachel’s Challenge and to view clips of the presentation, visit Rachelschallenge.com.

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com, or 352-2269.