High school students gather for Rachel’s Challenge event

Nearly 4,000 students from both Wylie high schools gather Sept. 10 on the Wylie ISD football field to hear the story of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the 1999 Columbine, Colorado, shooting.

Speaker David Hill, introduced by Principal Mike Williams and Principal Virdie Montegomery, told Rachel’s Story and challenged the crowd to eliminate prejudice, dream big, choose positive influences, speak with kindness and start a chain reaction of compassion.

“I have this theory,” Hill said quoting an essay Scott wrote, “That if one person will go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same.”

At the end of the presentation Hill gave everyone one last challenge, to tell loved ones how much they really mean.

“It was really cool to see how willing everyone was to take the last challenge,” senior Matthew Blakely said.

Scott refused to be labeled as average and lived by ethics and rules that she created. These ethics have since spread from Columbine to all around the world.

“I had my ups and my downs and I fell a few times, but I did not give up,” Scott wrote in the diary that was found after her death. “Don’t give up.”

For years before her death Scott knew she would die young but her friends said that when she talked about it, she did not seem sad or morbid. Her friends said that she spoke about it like she was talking about the weather.

In the same way she talked of how she would impact the world, and weeks after her death, her parents found a message she had written on the backside of her dresser.

“These are the hands of Rachel Joy Scott and one day, will touch millions of people’s hearts,” Scott wrote.

Attempting to spread Rachel’s kindness, students have made Friends of Rachel’s clubs all over the world.

To help spread kindness, join the FOR club. To learn more about the FOR club, go to room 804 and talk to teacher Ms. Karina Palomo.

Junior Sydney Tanner enjoyed learning more about Rachel’s family and how she can help others.

“You really can change a person’s life,” Tanner said.