[Student Reporters] Time to Take the Rachel‘s Challenge

Yul Kim / <12th, Herbert Hoover High School>

Rachel Joy Scott was known as a sweet and gregarious girl. She had a premonition that she was going to die young, but she knew that she would somehow have a great impact on numerous lives.

After the news of her death, many students from Columbine High School told her parents that she made a huge difference in their lives. Her acts of kindness, such as standing up for a bullied kid and sitting with a neglected student during lunch, averted suicides and comforted ones who were mourning. Of course, Rachel was unaware of these strangers’ background stories. She wrote in her essay, “People will never know how far a little kindness will go,” and those acts certified her own theory.

Several diaries of hers were discovered after her death, which contained her theories and beliefs. Reading her entries, one could tell she was a devoted Christian, caring, and compassionate. “I have this theory that if one person can go out of his/her way to show compassion, it will start a chain reaction of the same.” Though she admitted that her theories may sound fantastical, she stood steadfastly, and ultimately substantiated them.

Determined to carry out Rachel‘s theories, her dad created an organization called “Rachel’s Challenge”, which presents an assembly about her life and her message to the world. It is meant to motivate the audience to treat its peers kindly.

On September 22, 2009, Hoover High School held a Rachel‘s Challenge assembly. Unlike other assemblies where students typically display ruckus behaviors, the Rachel’s Challenge assembly had its students calm and attentive. The presentation provoked many emotions, mainly because of the lives Rachel had and has considerably transformed.

Most of the students and teachers responded positively, claiming that Rachel’s Challenge was an inspiring and influential presentation to teenagers. “It changed my perspective. I already knew that people should act kindly, but Rachel‘s Challenge was a good reminder,” said Angela No. However, some disagreed. Rachelle Manookian said that although the intention of the assembly was really good, it was “too cheesy at the end so some people were not taking it seriously.”

Rachel Joy Scott wrote that she “didn’t want to be labeled as average” on the cover of one of her diaries. Don‘t be an average Joe. Stick out as an individual by starting with an act of kindness to another: will you take this challenge?