Rachel Scott
Rachel Joy Scott (August 5 1981 – April 20 1999) was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, which claimed the lives of 12 children and a teacher in the deadliest school shooting incident in U.S. history. She has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel’s Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence, featuring her family members as speakers:
- Darrell Scott (born 1949) – father
- Craig Scott (born 1983) – brother
Rachel Scott lived near Littleton, Colorado, where she attended Columbine High School along with her younger brother, Craig. At the time of her death, the 17-year old junior was an aspiring writer and actress and had played the lead in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, Beth Nimmo, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center church in the Littleton area and was said to be known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness. Shortly before her death, she wrote an essay for school stating, “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.”[1]
Rachel Scott was slain while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn in front of the school's cafeteria. She was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm, and leg. Afterwards, her car was turned into an impromptu flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.
Early news reports claimed that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God, and that she had answered "You know I do", provoking a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range. Some accounts attributed this version to Castaldo, who subsequently seemed uncertain and unable to remember what, if anything, was said between Rachel and her murderers. Other disconfirmed reports attributed a similar dialogue to another slain student, Cassie Bernall, who died in the school library.[2]
Although the subsequent official investigation into the shootings concluded that it was actually a surviving Columbine student, Valeen Schnurr, who had been asked that question by her assailants, Rachel Scott’s parents contend in their book, Rachel’s Tears: the Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, that their daughter was targeted by the killers and died as a martyr for her Christian faith, based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel Scott for her beliefs.[3] (Hear a segment of these comments.)
"Rachel’s Challenge"
In the years since the shootings, Rachel Scott's life has been the basis for "Rachel’s Challenge", a presentation given in schools and communities across North America by members of her family. It combines stark video footage of the Columbine High School massacre with Rachel’s drawings and writings in a campaign to quell school violence, bullying, and teen suicide.
Rachel's father, Darrell Scott, a devout Christian and son of a pastor, co-authored three books about his daughter's life and her spirituality. Resigning his job as a salesman shortly after the Columbine tragedy, he set up Rachel's Challenge Foundation as a non-profit organization whose stated mission is 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 expresses a spiritual perspective on the Columbine tragedy, which he considers to be essential for the prevention of teen violence.
Newsweek magazine said of him in October 2006, "Though the wounds from his daughter's death will never truly heal, Scott has devoted his life to preventing future Columbines ...the Rachel's Challenge Foundation — under Scott’s leadership — has reached out to more than 1,000 schools to deliver a "chain reaction" of hope through school assemblies, workshops and outreach programs."[4] Scott told Newsweek, "...principals and teachers always need to be on the lookout for that kid who's isolated, or that's quiet, who always stays to himself, because that's typically the type of kid who ends up exploding. They also need to create an atmosphere in the school where students share with someone if they ever hear or see a threat. We know there have been numerous school shootings prevented because a student saw another student writing that he wanted to kill someone or something like that. I think that taking every single threat of any kind seriously is of utmost importance, and again to me it's cultivating an atmosphere, a climate and a culture where everyone's accepted. Because when people feel accepted they're not going to do something like Eric and Dylan (the Columbine perpetrators) did."
Rachel Scott’s younger brother Craig, a 15-year old sophomore at the time, was physically unharmed but witnessed several classmates being killed in the school library as he huddled under a table. He has made a number of joint speaking appearances with Darrell Scott and has appeared on ABC-TV's 20/20 and NBC-TV's Dateline and the Today Show to discuss the loss of his sister and his difficult recovery from the traumatic ordeal he experienced as an eyewitness to the murderous rampage.
At the White House's Conference on School Safety held in Washington, DC, on October 10, 2006, Craig addressed the President of the United States, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Education, saying, in part, "Kindness and compassion can be the biggest antidotes to anger and hatred, and I believe the biggest antidotes to violence. We've seen bullying stopped, incidents where a student came up with hit lists or plans to shoot up his school, and told either the speaker or told the teacher about their plans, but had a change of heart. How have we done it? We've done it with a simple story of a young girl who believed in compassion, Rachel Joy Scott. But my sister is not the only one who believes in kindness, and she's not been the only one in her brave stance against the injustice willing to standup for the one who gets put down in school, to sit by the student that sits all alone at lunch, and to talk to or reach out to the one who is consistently ignored or made fun of. She literally has inspired millions of people to continue the chain reaction she started...".[5]
Rachel Joy Scott was posthumously given the 2001 National Kindness Award for Student of the Year by the Acts of Kindness Association. In 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) of New York awarded Darrell Scott and Rachel’s Challenge the Friend of Education Award.
References
- ^ Rachel Scott: "My Ethics, My Codes of Life"
- ^ Misty Bernall, She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall. New York: Pocket Books, 2000 (ISBN 0-7434-0052-6).
- ^ Darrell Scott and Beth Nimmo, Rachel's Tears: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2000 (ISBN 0-7852-6848-0).
- ^ "Celebrate Their Lives", Jessica Bennett, Newsweek, Oct. 4, 2006.
- ^ White House news release: Conference on School Safety, Oct. 10, 2006
External links
- Rachel's Challenge (official website)
- Rachel's Legacy, by Beth Nimmo (Rachel's mother)
- Life Choices, by John and Debbie Phillips (Rachel's aunt and uncle)
- Darrell Scott's Testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives
- The Biggest question of all by Denver Rocky Mountain News staff writers, December 14, 1999.
Other books published by Rachel's parents
- Beth Nimmo, The Journals of Rachel Joy Scott: A Journey of Faith at Columbine High. 2001 (ISBN 0-8499-7594-8).
- Darrell Scott, Chain Reaction: A Call To Compassionate Revolution. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001 (ISBN 0-7852-6680-1).
- Darrell Scott, Rachel Smiles : The Spiritual Legacy of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott. 2002 (ISBN 0-7852-6472-8).