Students respond to the call of Rachel's Challenge

Before Rachel Scott died on April 20, 1999, in the Columbine massacre, she wrote that she would someday touch the hearts of millions.

On Monday, her message of kindness and compassion was shared with Mountain Home Junior High and high school students as the schools took part in Rachel's Challenge.

Scott was the first victim of the Columbine High School shootings. After her death, her father started Rachel's Challenge to spread the message of kindness Scott wrote about in her journals, school work and exhibited in her daily life.

Students watched and listened for 80 minutes as her uncle Larry Scott showed video footage of Rachel's life and the impact of her words and actions in contrast to the incident that claimed her life.

In between the footage, he issued five challenges based mostly on Rachel's writing and used examples from Rachel's life to fulfill each challenge.

Scott's first challenge to students was look for the best in people and to eliminate prejudice.

He shared with the audience words from an essay Rachel wrote six weeks before her death encouraging others not to judge people on first impressions alone.

Before issuing the second challenge, Scott compared his niece to Anne Frank, the young girl who kept a diary while her family hid from persecution during the Holocaust.

He pointed out that both of their deaths had been influenced by Adolf Hitler. The shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were influenced by Hitler and planned their attack on his birthday.

Before their deaths, both girls dreamed big, believed in the power of kindness and kept diaries of their innermost thoughts and goals.

Rachel wrote at 13 that some day her hands will touch the hearts of millions of people. In the essay written six weeks before her death she wrote, "I have this theory that if one person goes 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 will go."

She concluded the essay by challenging her readers to test her theory and telling them, "You just may start a chain reaction."

After sharing Rachel's dreams and goals with the audience, her uncle issued the second of Rachel's challenges: dare to dream, write down goals and to keep a journal.

He challenged students to keep a journal or a diary for 30 days until it becomes a habit.

"It will change your life," he said.

The third challenge, to chose positive influences, came from Rachel's brother, Craig Scott.

During the shootings, Craig was in the school's library where the majority of deaths and injuries occurred.

Scott said the shooters quoted lines from a violent movie the pair had seen repeatedly and often listened to violent music and watched violent movies.

"Input determines output," Larry Scott said. "If you chose violent influences, you're most likely to become violent. If you chose positive influences, you're most likely positive."

Craig Scott is currently studying to become a film producer and wants to make positive movies that will have a positive impact on people, Larry Scott said.

Scott told several stories of Rachel's act of kindness. He said she made it a point to reach out to disabled, new or picked-on students.

He gave examples of Rachel reaching out to these students including the time she stuck up for another student who was being picked on by two bigger boys.

Scott said this student had already planned his suicide for a week later but told Rachel's family her kindness had literally saved his life.

Scott encouraged students to turn in the names of school bullies and said bullying was one of the big reasons the tragedies at Columbine occurred.

"Two skinny boys got tired of being picked on," Scott said. "If each one of you become a better person, then this school will become a better school."

Before issuing the fourth challenge, he told students, "words are powerful, what you say to others matter."

The fourth challenge was to use kind words.

Scott told students a little act of kindness can have a huge result and reminded them of Rachel's writing, "People will never know how far a little kindness will go."

The final video was a powerful and emotional montage of Rachel's writings, pictures of her and pictures of the event and its aftermath set to Jewel's "My Hands."

At its conclusion, Scott asked the audience members to close their eyes and to think of their loved ones. He then issued the final challenge: to go to whomever they were thinking in the next three days and tell them how much they love and care for them.

He told students doing so would start a chain reaction among those people.

After reviewing the five challenges with his audience, he challenged them to walk out different people and to make their school a better place.

The student body responded with a standing ovation as Scott ended his presentation.

"These are words we needed to hear. We need to put into our minds, our thoughts and our character the words we heard today," Junior High School Principal Ernest Elliott told his students at the conclusion of his school's presentation.

With his voice cracking, he encouraged his students to accept Rachel's challenges.

Each school had a large banner with the words "I Accept Rachel's Challenge," for students to sign.

After the junior high presentation, approximately three dozen students stayed in the gymnasium to speak with Scott.

Many of the students were crying as they thanked him for coming and promised to accept Rachel's Challenge.

"The response was extraordinary for a junior high," Scott said. "This is why we do it. This is what Rachel would have wanted. She believed she would have touched the lives of many. That's what she is doing."

Rachel's dad and founder of Rachel's Challenge, Darrell Scott, will speak at 7 p.m. tonight at the Idaho Center.