Community invited to event to hear powerful message of Columbine victim

“I want to reach out to those with special needs because they are often overlooked. I want to reach out to those who are new in school because they don’t have any friends yet. And I want to reach out to those who are picked on or put down by others.” - Rachel Joy Scott The word “Columbine” has been synonymous with tragedy for more than two full decades.

On April 20, 1999, two young men murdered 12 fellow students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado before they committed suicide.

Nearly two dozen other students were injured in the shooting, which was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States until Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2018.

Among those killed was Rachel Joy Scott. Soon after their daughter’s life was taken, Darrell and Sandy Scott, Rachel’s parents, found a collection of her writings…a diary of sorts.

It was filled with passages similar to the one above. Their daughter not only talked of such ideals, but she lived them as well.

A month after the Columbine tragedy, Darrell Scott was asked to speak before a Congressional subcommittee on school violence.

His message to Congress focused on what he believed to be the true root issue: What we are - or more accurately, are not - teaching our children in school.

His assertion was that when character and respect, caring and integrity, kindness and compassion stopped being taught - when education started solely focusing on performance and not the whole child - then environments are created within which Columbine-like incidents can occur.

Scott’s speech instantly became an internet sensation. Soon he was getting requests from all over the country to tell Rachel’s story, which he discovered was a powerful antidote to bullying and violence.

Less than a year after the tragedy, Darrell and Sandy started Rachel’s Challenge.

Their intent was to honor Rachel’s life and help prevent other families from going through what the Columbine families had endured.

Their focus was telling students how Rachel deliberately reached out to those who were different from her, new to school, picked on by others, or just lonely; and what a huge difference that made in their lives.

After her death, many of the kids to whom Rachel reached out approached the Scott family with stories about the profound impact her simple acts of kindness had on their lives, even preventing one young man from taking his own life.

They realized Rachel’s story is transformational for most who hear it.

And it’s being brought to Kingfisher.

The entire community is invited to attend a “Rachel’s Challenge” program from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. Wednesday, Jan. 24, at the APB. ( Note: See advertisement on Page 3 of this edition.)

It will conclude two days of programs that will also be presented to students throughout Kingfisher Public Schools.

Pre-k through first grade students will take part from 9 to 9:40 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23; second-fourth grade students will experience the program from 10 to 10:40 a.m. Tuesday; and fifth and sixth grade students from 1:30 to 2:10 p.m. that day.

During the school day on Wednesday, junior high and high school students will take part in an hourlong program.

Each program is age-appropriate for its targeted audience.

They are designed to inspire and equip every person to create a permanent positive culture change in their school, business, or community by starting their own chain reaction of kindness and compassion.

The objectives of these programs are all the same to continue Rachel’s legacy of kindness and compassion - and:

• Help schools and businesses to become safer, more connected places to live and learn.

• Stimulate real culture change by actively involving the entire community in the process.

• Change lives by providing culturally relevant social/emotional and mental health training.

• Increase achievement and ensure results by engaging the participants’ heart, head and hands in self-care and helping others.

“Rachel’s Challenge is the most powerful intervention I have seen in 40 years of working in education,” said Dr. Robert Marzano, respected education researcher and author.

Rachel’s Challenge schools have reported up to 84% reductions in disciplinary referrals.

As many as 150 suicides are averted annually, as reported by students themselves. In a pre- and post-attitudinal survey of 9,881 students from socioeconomically and demographically diverse schools across the U.S. and Canada, respondents reported a 282% increase in the number of students feeling safe at school after participating in Rachel’s Challenge.

“Those are just some of the reasons we feel this is a great program to not only share with our students, but our entire community,” said Kingfisher Superintendent David Glover.

“This is a powerful message and we want as many people as possible to hear and experience it.

“We hope you’ll choose to be a part of it on Wednesday.”

In one of her essays, Rachel wrote: “I have this theory that if one person can go 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 can go.”

Added Glover: “We want this to be a catalyst for a chain reaction here.”

For more information about Rachel’s Challenge, visit www.rachelschallenge. org