Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.

Nederland Middle Senior High School students experienced a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking and yet inspiring presentation on Tuesday during an all-school assembly.

Craig Scott was 16 years old when two gunmen entered Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, killed 13 students and wounded 21 others. The gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Kiebold, then killed themselves. Among the students killed was Scott’s 18-year old sister, Rachel Joy.

At that time, Craig Scott was in the school, in the library, where many of the shootings took place. He was next to his friend Isaiah who was shot and killed, and then, after leaving the building uninjured, he discovered his sister Rachel had also been killed during the gunfire. She had been sitting outside of the library entrance eating lunch and was the first victim of the Columbine Massacre.

On Tuesday, Craig spoke to the NMSHS student body, taking them through the day of the shootings, speaking of his sister’s kindness and unconditional love for others and told the students that they could carry on her wishes for people to take a stand against injustice and to stand up for those who are bullied, or sit alone at lunch, needing a friend, one person to care about them.

Rachel Joy Scott was a writer and kept a journal in which she scribed her emotions and thoughts about a world in which people hurt each other. In an essay she wrote, Rachel came up with her own five codes of ethics to live by. Craig and his father Darrell and mother Sandy started Rachel’s Challenge, an organization that works to reduce violence and encourage kindness among students. The presentations are given in schools and communities and use video footage of the massacre and the aftermath. The video includes a portrait of Rachel and her dreams and desires and presents her five goals, a challenge to all students:

1. Look for the best in others

2. Dream big

3. Choose positive influences

4. Speak with kindness

5. Start your own chain reaction

Craig said it is ironic that while Rachel was writing her chain reaction to promote kindness, the gunmen were promoting a chain reaction to violence.

After the shooting, Craig was filled with hate. “I hated these guys. The anger ate me up and I found myself taking that anger out on others.” He took a trip to Africa where he met a man who had lost his entire family who told Craig to find forgiveness, to set the prisoner free and know that the prisoner is you.

Let it go, he told the students. Instead of harboring hate, tell three people that you love them and appreciate them.

The students silence was palpable as they listened to Craig’s plea to not judge others, to forgive and to add to the chain reaction. He asked them to stand up, to put their arms around the people next to them. “Lean on me,” played on the screen and the students held each other and sang along.

Craig danced on the stage, first goofy and then with joy as he encouraged the students to find the good in each other. He even twirled NMSHS principal Carrie Yantzer around a few times.

The Challenge program includes establishing Friends of Rachel clubs in schools to sustain Rachel’s goals on a long-term basis. When Craig finished his presentation, the students had an all-school lunch and time to sign the Friends of Rachel banner, committing themselves to carry on the work she began.

Principal Yantzer told the students that if they accepted the challenge, they should sign the banner with meaning.

“It starts with us and it starts right now,” she said. “You all have the opportunity to start a chain reaction in the school and in the community.”

The Rachel’s Challenge was also presented to the community in the evening, spreading his sister’s message.

“Rachel is not the only one who believes in kindness, and she’s not been the only one in her brave stance against the injustice willing to stand up for the one who gets put down in school, to sit by the student that sits alone at lunch, and to talk to or reach out to the one who is consistently ignored of made fun of. She literally has inspired millions of people to continue the chain reaction she started,” said Craig.

Sixth grader Echo Siglin signed the banner, saying, “I thought that what he said was powerful and it made me think about being nicer to my brother.”