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Rachel Joy Scott

by Gabby from Selden

Rachel (infohost.nmt.edu)
Rachel (infohost.nmt.edu)

A hero is someone you can look up to or want to be like.♥ My hero is Rachel Joy Scott. Rachel is a hero because she was an inspiring writer and actress and she had played the lead in a student–written play. Rachel had a charming personality and she was very outgoing. I can relate to her. If Rachel was alive she would be somebody i would want to be friends with. The impact Rachael had on me is she was a inspiration. She is an inspiration to me because of her beliefs in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness.

Columbine (www.answers.com)
Columbine (www.answers.com)

April 1999 was an unimaginable event. The lives of 12 students and a teacher, along with the two perpetrators, died in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Columbine has turned things upside down for many families. Rachael’s challenge is nation wide school outreach program or for the prevention of teen violence. Her family members where the speakers for Rachel’s challenge - Darrell Scott (dad), Craig Scott (brother), Dana Scott (sister), Bethany McCandless (sister), and Larry Scott (uncle).

Rachel Scott was eating lunch with her friend, Richard Castaldo, on the front lawn of the school's cafeteria. She was killed by multiple gunshot wounds. After her deaths, her car was turned into an impromptu flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot. Early news reports claimed one of the gunners, after having the first shot at Rachel in her leg he asked the wounded girl if she still believed in god, and she had answered “You know I do” provoking a second, fatal shot.

Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in god. 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."


Rachel’s father Darrell Scott, is a Christian and son of a pastor, co-author of 3 books about his daughters’ life and her spirituality. After the Columbine tragedy, he set up Rachel’s Challenge Foundation as a non-profit organization whose stated mission to “motivate, educate and bring change to many young people”. As part of this work, Scott regularly tours America, speaking at churches, schools, and youth centers about Rachel’s example.

Rachel Joy Scott was given the 2001 national kindness award for student of the year by the acts of kindness association for the legacy of kindness. She left behind by 17 year old killed during Columbine High School shooting. Rachel had a habit of writing in unusual places through out her life. She traced her hands and wrote, “These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch millions of people’s hearts”

In the years since the shooting, 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 is such an inspiration…I wish I could have met her. That is why Rachel Joy Scott is my hero.

Page created on 1/17/2008 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 1/17/2008 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.
 
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