Columbine victim serves as inspiration in program brought to Bethel Park
Chris Mowery of Youngstown, Ohio, was the presenter for the Rachel’s Challenge program at Bethel Park High School.
The most widely circulated photograph of Rachel Joy Scott (1981-99)
Keep in mind that Rachel Joy Scott had her faults.
“She was not perfect,” Chris Mowery told the audience at Bethel Park High School. “She made mistakes.”
But more and more of the world knows her as someone with an extremely positive message, one that her family, friends and admirers hope will be shared and put into practice.
Mowery is among the presenters for Rachel’s Challenge, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to creating safe school environments. The Youngstown, Ohio, resident gave two presentations for students, along with an evening session for the Bethel Park community, during his Sept. 22 visit.
His mission is to share the story of Rachel Scott.
“It’s had a huge impact on my life,” he said, “and I know it can impact anyone who hears it.”
She was having lunch with a friend outside of school on the first nice day of spring in her Colorado town. The school was Columbine High. The date was April 20, 1999.
Rachel, 17, was the first of 13 people to be killed by fellow students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, before they took their own lives.
Although none of the Bethel Park students is old enough to remember Columbine, many were moved by the presentation, which included footage, 911 audio and news reports from the tragedy.
“I know how you feel,” Independence Middle School principal David Muench said following the 70-minute, second presentation of the day, for students in seventh, eighth and 11th grades. “I see the tears and some of the emotion.”
Rachel’s legacy stems from her writings, especially in her journals, that give direction as to what the average person can do to help make the world a better place.
To that goal, students at the second presentation were presented with five components of Rachel’s Challenge:
• Look for the best in others
• Dream big
• Choose positive influences
• Speak with kindness
• Start your own chain reaction
The latter refers to an overriding theme of Rachel’s Challenge, derived from an essay she had written that her father found after her death. In it, she refers to a “chain reaction of kindness and compassion.”
Darrell Scott, in turn, adapted the phrase for the title of the book he wrote about his daughter, “Chain Reaction: A Call to Compassionate Revolution.”
Mowery read the book when it was published, two years after he watched Rachel’s funeral on CNN, which drew the largest viewing audience in the network’s history. He was so moved by her story that he eventually became one of about 30 Rachel’s Challenge presenters, so far addressing audiences in 22 states. And he named his daughter Rachel Joy.
Mowery said Rachel Scott tended to live as she wrote, such as making determined efforts to befriend students who otherwise were outcasts.
That part of the message may have had a major influence on a school bully whose story Mowery told.
The New Hampshire student attended a Rachel’s Challenge presentation, and afterward decided to stand outside his school with a sign stating, “I’m sorry.” Many of his fellow students accepted his apology.
“That’s the chain reaction Rachel was talking about,” Mowery said. “That’s the difference that she thought could happen.”
He drew comparisons of her to Anne Frank, who died at age 15 in a Nazi concentration camp and whose diary influenced Rachel to keep her journals.
“They both had a sense of destiny and believed their lives would touch the world,” he said.
While in Bethel Park, Mowery also trained a group of about 50 students as Friends of Rachel, to be student mentors and also to work with adults to continue to share the message and “keep the momentum going,” he said.
Bethel Park previously hosted Rachel’s Challenge in 2013, when Julianna Leis, then a high school junior, spearheaded the arrangements. Her mother, Sue, helped this year.
The program was made possible through a donation from the Bethel Park Community Foundation.