Mars receives challenge to be a kinder place
ADAMS TWP — The Mars School District community was offered the chance to take part in a challenge to be kinder Thursday night, through Rachel’s Challenge.
Rachel’s Challenge is a program based on the life and writings of Rachel Joy Scott, the first victim of the Columbine High School mass shooting.
More than 100 community members, parents, students and school officials were in attendance at the high school auditorium to learn about the program.
Diane Myers is the mother of one district graduate and one student still in the district.
Myers said she was curious about Rachel’s Challenge, which prompted her to attend the event.
“It’s presented to the kids,” she said, “so I wanted to hear what they were hearing.”
Myers said she hoped it would bring more positivity to the community.
“Rachel wrote a paper about wanting more positiveness in the world,” Myers said, “and I like that idea.”
The program began as a means to share Rachel’s story and her thoughts of kindness being a “chain.”
Rachel wrote many papers, and in her diary, on the subject, both of which are referenced throughout the presentation. In writing, she talks about how one person’s kind act can prompt another to follow suit, and so on and so on, until the world is a better place.
“People will never know how far a little kindness can go,” Rachel wrote in her diary.
Myers said her daughter’s fourth-grade class had a project similar to the paper chain idea presented in the program, which is to write kind words on paper links and then combine them to see how far around the chain can spread or “how many people it can touch.”
One image shared throughout the program is the outline of Rachel’s hands, over which she wrote “These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch millions of people’s hearts.”
The main goal of the program is to encourage students to reach out to those who are different from themselves and be on the lookout for anyone who may be having a hard time, as Rachel wrote she did with three groups of people: those with special needs, those who were new in school and those who were “picked on or put down by others.”
District officials introduced the Rachel’s Challenge program to high school and middle school students in assemblies Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, in an effort to promote a more positive school culture and anti-bullying campaign.
It works to equip and inspire individuals to replace acts of violence, bullying and negativity with acts of respect, kindness and compassion.
Before classes started for the year, all staff heard from Rachel’s father, Darrell, who founded Rachel’s Challenge in 2001, and were introduced to the program. Different presenters are certified to present on behalf of Rachel’s Challenge as part of the “Friends of Rachel Club.”
Thursday night’s presenter was Chris Mowery, who said he was inspired to share Rachel’s message after seeing her funeral and reading her story.
