JEFFERSON TWP — The South Butler County School District community is invited to learn more about a popular positivity program that administrators hope will affect every student in the district.

A representative from Rachel's Challenge will spend three days in the district next month to present the program, which is named for Rachel Joy Scott, the first student to be fatally shot in 1999 at Columbine High School.

The program is meant to equip and inspire individuals to replace acts of violence, bullying and negativity with acts of respect, kindness and compassion.

The program is based on Rachel's journal entries, which revealed her penchant for using simple acts of kindness to positively affect others. The program was created by Rachel's father, Darrell Scott.

Jenny Webb, communications manager at South Butler, said district officials visited the Butler Area and Moon Area school districts when they kicked off their Rachel's Challenge programs to determine if it would be advantageous at South Butler.

The program will cost about $15,000 to implement. The Knoch Knights Legacies Foundation donated an additional $4,500 to train staff for Rachel's Challenge.

“There is a lot of good research behind the effects it has had on schools that have used the program,” Webb said of Rachel's Challenge.

She said research showed decreases in bullying, disciplinary issues, social media issues and other negative behaviors in schools immersed in the Rachel's Challenge program.

Webb explained that the representative who visits the district will hold community presentations at the high school on the evenings of Sept. 10 and 11. The events will give attendees, ages 12 and older, an opportunity to see the presentation that will be shown to students in the middle and high schools during the day. Childcare will be provided by the district.

South Butler officials wanted to involve the communities in the district, so adults can also learn how to interact with others in a positive way.

“Our schools are not the only place where there is a negative tone and people are not being accepting of one another's differences,” Webb said.

While not graphic, Webb said the secondary-school presentation is highly emotional and impactful. The presentation mostly details Rachel and her life and journal entries, but also includes scenes of students comforting one another after the Columbine shooting as well as funeral footage.

“It makes it very clear who Rachel was,” Webb said. “These journal entries that she wrote preceding this event give you goose bumps. She was a profound thinker for a girl of her age, and it almost seems like she knew what was going to happen to her.”

Students at the primary and intermediate schools who are in kindergarten through fifth grade will receive a Rachel's Challenge presentation during school on Sept. 9 that is geared toward younger students and is not the same presentation given to secondary students.

The elementary-level presentation focuses on kindness and positivity, and does not mention the Columbine school shooting. While Rachel's name is used, she is depicted as a purveyor of positive behavior and her demise is not included.

“We want to make that very clear,” Webb said. “The elementary and secondary students will receive two very different presentations.”

After the school and community presentations, which will serve as the program's kickoff, Friends of Rachel clubs will be formed.

Webb explained that 100 high school and middle school students who are leaders will be selected to oversee the clubs, which will each pursue positive activities.

Examples of potential clubs include a welcoming committee for new students that would provide them with doughnuts on the first day of school and have club members accompany the students to a football game or other school activity; a committee to help families enduring a crisis, such as a death or illness, in which club members would visit and support that family; and an art committee to create and maintain signage throughout the school that promotes Rachel's Challenge ideals.

Webb said the 100 student leaders to be chosen will not necessarily be the brightest or most popular. She said because the program seeks to affect all students, any student with influence will be considered.

While clubs will not be a part of the elementary program, administrators at the primary and middle schools will be given 180 positive activities to pursue with the intent being to use one activity for each day of the school year.

“They're all five-minute things, maybe to kick off the day on a positive note or something like that,” Webb said.

Before the visit by the Rachel's Challenge personnel in September, teachers will spend an in-service day on Aug. 23 engaging in professional development on Rachel's Challenge.

“The program will be a change for the teachers because there will be things that will happen in the classroom that will be more than a one-day thing,” Webb said. “This is not a one-and-done.”

In addition to seeing the elementary and secondary Rachel's Challenge presentations that will be shown to students, the secondary teachers will spend the afternoon learning about the clubs and how they should operate.

“(The professional development session) will give the teachers time to digest the program and decide how they are going to use it,” Webb said.

She said school officials appreciate the grant from the Legacies Foundation for the professional development, which is a Rachel's Challenge component that many other school districts are not using.

“We're very committed to make this work and make it stick,” Webb said.

David Foley, superintendent at South Butler, agrees.

“Rachel's Challenge requires students to take ownership of it and because they are taking ownership, it keeps the momentum of the program going,” Foley said. “We are focused on a positive learning environment and a welcoming climate for all of our students.”

Webb is confident in the program's success. Its aim is for every student in the district to focus on positive interaction, inclusion and empowerment.

“Administrators in other districts are seeing troubled, difficult students develop a changed view on life,” Webb said. “They now think, 'I can make a difference. I don't have to just accept what is.'”