The Shadow
HOT SPRINGS – Rockbridge Area Community Services presented a program called “Rachel’s Challenge” Tuesday to Bath County students.
Rachel’s Challenge is a bullying and violence prevention program that was founded after the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado.
Rockbridge Area Community Services fully funded the program for Bath County Public Schools through a Drug Free Communities grant which funds its Rockbridge Area Prevention Coalition.
Rachel Scott was the first person killed at Columbine High School on April 22, 1999. Her brother, Craig, was in the library of the school that tragic day and lost two close friends, narrowly escaping death himself.
Dave Gamache, a personal friend of Craig Scott, addressed the Bath County students Tuesday. He is one of 40 trained staff members affiliated with Rachel’s Challenge.
“My high school kids were very moved by what he had to say,” Bath County High School Principal Pete Pitard said. “It’s so simple, but it’s so in depth.”
Spurred by Tuesday’s presentation, Pitard said a group of BCHS students have already started collecting pull tabs from soft drink cans. Proceeds from collecting these tabs will go the Shriners Children’s Hospitals.
“Already I’ve seen a change among some students,” Pitard said.
A few weeks after the tragedy, Darrell Scott, Rachel’s father, spoke
to a Congressional House Judiciary Committee regarding issues of school violence. His speech has become one of the most widely read on the Internet.
Shortly afterward, he founded Rachel’s Challenge, a non-violence school program.
According to a spokesperson at Rachel’s Challenge, the school program founded by Mr. Scott has prevented numerous suicides, drastically reduced bullying, and in three known instances alone, prevented a planned school shooting.
Wendy Morgan, RACS’s manager of prevention and public relations, described what took place during the events Tuesday at BCHS. Bath County High School students attended an early-morning assembly, followed by a second assembly for sixth through eight grade students, parents and other interested community members.
Students saw and heard powerful audio and video footage during the one-hour school presentation, designed to motivate them to positive change in the way they treat others.
This was immediately followed by a 90-minute interactive training session involving both adults and student leaders that shows how to sustain the momentum created by the assembly.
“Rachel’s Challenge is much more than a school assembly,” Morgan explained. “It is a life-altering experience that will change the entire community.
“Research shows that when parents and schools work together to send the same messages about risky behavior, young people are more likely to make safe and healthy decisions,” she explained. “So, just imagine what can happen when the entire community comes together to send the same message.”
To sustain the positive climate changes, the students will be forming a Friends of Rachel program using a year-long curriculum that continues training students and plugs them into activities that maintain the chain reaction of kindness.
According to a spokesperson for Rachel’s Challenge, more than 1.25 million students experienced the program in 2007 and had the opportunity to accept the challenges, modeled after Rachel’s life and writings.
This year, the number of students expected to hear Rachel’s story will increase to about 1.7 million.
The number of requests to present Rachel’s Challenge to students, parents and educators continues to rise. The Scott family has spoken to over 10 million people in live settings and has reached millions more through features on popular media outlets.
Mr. Scott has authored three books, including the best seller, “Rachel’s Tears.”
Pitard said Rockbridge Area Community Services is funding the program for three years in Bath County schools.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Pitard said. “Over the three years, I think we will see a significant difference.”
