Students at Cedar Creek and Valley View elementary schools along with those at Westlake High School kicked off a program Dec. 18 that they hope will generate a positive culture change in their school district by accepting “Rachel’s Challenge.”

The program, named after 17-year-old Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the Columbine High School tragedy in Colorado in April 1999, challenges every student and adult to create positive change by starting a chain reaction of kindness and compassion. Scott’s beliefs, her acts of kindness and compassion and the contents of her six diaries have become the foundation for a program her friends and family hope will effect change in American schools and in the country’s culture – one person at a time.

Immediately after her murder, Scott’s father, Darrell Scott, began speaking around the nation, using Rachel’s writings and the drawings from her many diaries to illustrate the need for a more humane nation. The talks grew into a program that included training for teachers and school administrators.

“A few years ago, the entire Cedar Creek staff began deliberately focusing our efforts on teaching students clear expectations for positive behavior. We shifted our attention away from what students do wrong, to what they do right,” said Lisa Streun, Cedar Creek principal. “The next step in our journey to continually improve our school environment for all children and adults will be to accept Rachel’s Challenge.

The elementary school students kicked off the challenge with a one-hour assembly at the high school’s Performing Arts Center. Older students walked from the Cedar Creek campus to WHS, where they met their younger schoolmates and students from Valley View Elementary School. During the presentation, they listened to information on how some schools have transformed their communities through compassionate actions and thought, Streun said.

A month before her death, Scott wrote an essay about her ethics for school.

“Compassion is the greatest form of love humans have to offer,” she wrote. “My definition of compassion is forgiving, loving, helping, leading and showing mercy for others. 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. How do you know that trust, compassion and beauty will not make this world a better place to be in and this life a better one to live?”

“Rachel’s Challenge is an example of how goodness can come from tragedy and how one young adult’s legacy can positively impact millions of people,” Streun said

Hill Country Middle School will also be kicking off Rachel’s Challenge in the spring.