Cassie Rene Bernall

Cassie Bernall was a typical seventeen year old junior going to school at Columbine High. No one would have thought that one day day Cassie would be a hero, a hero for standing up for what she believed.

The day of the Columbine shootings started out as a regular day for Cassie. Waking up at a little after five forty- five a.m., then walking one hundred feet to the high school, which was right behind their house. Cassie went into the school library around eleven forty-five a.m. to work on some homework. A few minutes after she entered,a teacher came running in telling them that ther were two gunmen in the school. At first they thought it was a senior prank, but as the gunshots came closer they all scrambled underneath the library tables. Then Dylan Klebold, one of the gunman, asked Cassie if she believed in God. Cassie paused and then replied "Yes". She was shot and killed seconds later.

Just two years before the Columbine shootings Cassie wasn't very different from her killers. She did drugs and once her and a friend planned on killing her parents and then themselves. The Bernalls decided to pull Cassie out of her public shool and put her in a private Christian school. After a year of private school Cassie wanted to return to public school. This time the Bernalls decided to enroll her in Columbine High to see if it would be any different than her old school. Cassie did well at Columbine so they decided to keep her there. They found that attending church camp had really changed her life.

Cassie's courage has not only made her one of my heroes but to people all around the world. She stood up for what she believed in even if it cost her her life. I think Cassie is a true hero because she was a martyr for her faith.