"Don’t let your character change color with your environment. Find out who you are and let it stay its true color.” These are the words of Columbine High School junior Rachel Scott. Her life was the first taken in one of the worst school shootings in American history. However, the inspirational words she left behind in six journals are timeless. In an essay written one month before her death, Rachel challenged her readers to “Start a chain reaction of kindness and compassion.” SMS would like to be a part of that chain reaction by bringing “Rachel’s Challenge” to the middle school students on March 9.

Rachel Scott was the first person killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Her acts of kindness and compassion coupled with the contents of her six diaries have become the foundation for one of the most life-changing school programs in America. Powerful video/audio footage of Rachel's life and the Columbine tragedy holds students spell-bound during a one hour school presentation that motivates them to positive change in the way they treat others. This is followed by an interactive 45-minute training session involving both adult and student leaders that shows how to sustain the momentum created by the assembly. The assembly creates the “want to” or desire for positive change. The training session teaches the “how to” and ensures that the positive impact will continue. That evening (tentatively scheduled for March 9 at 6:00pm at the SYA) the Rachel’s Challenge speaker conducts a powerful session with parents and community leaders. This session is similar to the assembly program and ends with a specific challenge to parents and community leaders, showing them how they can reinforce the decisions their youth are making.

Your school will never be the same after being exposed to Rachel’s Challenge!

In 3 words we... MOTIVATE, EDUCATE and ACTIVATE.

Without any politics, religion or profit involved,
We MOTIVATE by grabbing kids hearts in an assembly.
We EDUCATE their heads with training and curriculum.
We help ACTIVATE them to get involved with their hands through exercises and community service.

We accomplish this by using different combinations of programs and materials that are age-appropriate for the specific audience.

Above are excepts from “Rachel’s Challenge” website at rachelschallenge.com

Thank you to YAC for making it possible to SMS students to experience “Rachel's Challenge” this school year and become part of the chain reaction of kindness and compassion towards others.

http://www.rachelschallenge.com/