By Jacque Day
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-920791.mp3
Calloway County, KY – On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on classmates at Columbine High School in Colorado. Rachel Scott was the first person killed in the attack and her writings have become the foundation for a nationwide campaign to eradicate school bullying. This week, Rachel's Challenge came to Calloway County Middle School. Jacque Day met up with a student who says he hopes to participate in a "chain reaction of kindness."
THE STORY
At twelve years old, Calloway County Middle School student Seth Miceli is too young to remember the Columbine massacre. But he's not too young to feel firsthand the effects of school bullying. After a daytime presentation of Rachel's Challenge, he returned to the school that evening, with an entourage. "I brought my parents here because I was inspired by the story."
Seth and his parents were among fewer than a hundred participants who attended a presentation of Rachel's Challenge Monday evening. Presenter J.B. Brayden introduced them to the memory of the first person killed in the mass school shooting. "Tonight I just want to share a story with you, about Rachel Joy Scott."
Earlier that day, Brayden presented Rachel's story to the entire student body. "Shortly after Rachel's death, her family found an essay that she had written for a fifth period class. She entitled this essay, My Ethics: My Codes of Life." In her essay, Rachel challenged her readers to start a "chain reaction of kindness."
"She said, I have this theory that if one person will go out of their way to show just a little compassion, it will start a chain reaction of the same. She said, People will never know how far a little kindness can go."
Rachel Scott's essay inspired a national movement. Calloway County is one of more than 23-hundred institutions in 2010 alone to introduce Rachel's Challenge in an effort to combat bullying. Youth services center coordinator Danielle Schwetmann says she sees bullying on a daily basis at the middle school, though much of it falls into the realm of mental and emotional bullying, rather than physical. "This says to me that obviously there has been something missing at our school. Maybe there is a need for people just to reach out to others."
Those old enough recall well the chilling coverage of students in suburban Denver being gunned down by two classmates.
Teacher Patti Nelson's 911 call. "Under the tables kids! Heads under the tables!"
In the school library, Rachel's brother Craig Scott crouched under a table when the assailants entered. The presentation included an interview with Craig. The gunmen shot his two friends, covering him with their blood. "Isaiah was one of the very few black students in school. And they began to make fun of Isaiah for being black. And the last thing that Isaiah heard in his life were racial slurs being made against him."
Seth's father, Keith Pipitone says he too was bullied as a youngster. He says prejudice stems, in part from a lack of empathy for those different from themselves. "You never know what kind of day somebody's having. You never know what they went through in their lives. You can't just automatically look at them and go, I don't like them. You have to give them an opportunity."
Seth has taken that a step further, beyond judgment. "I've made some friends that are disabled because I didn't think they'd have too many friends because of prejudice. [Jacque: What do you think of prejudice?] Seth: I think it's a bad feeling to have. You can't just judge people."
Earlier this year, the suicide of Phoebe Prince, a Massachusetts teen, ignited a national dialogue. Nearly a third of U.S. Students ages 12 to 18 are bullied during the school year, according to annual data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Seth's mother Kathryn says, having an autistic brother in the family has made him more aware of what it's like for people to be misunderstood. "And he's always been the kid to go to the one who's being picked on, or the underdog, and make them feel better, pick up the books that someone drops, things like that. And I know that he faces a lot of persecution himself sometimes, and he's really really headstrong about it. He's not going to change who he is. But he doesn't hold them personally responsible either."
J.B. Brayden cites one example of the immediate effects of Rachel's Challenge on a bullying situation in another school. "We had one instance where a kid who was bullying everybody in the school, and he wanted to tell everybody he was sorry. And he couldn't get to everybody, so he made a big sign and he went out there. And as the busses were coming to pick up the kids, he stood out there with his sign. All it said was, I'm sorry."
Danielle Schwetmann has an example a little closer to home, from Calloway Middle. "One of the teachers after our morning assembly came to me and said, I just have to share this story. She has a young man in one of her classes, who's very angry. He's bitter with the world. And she said, he even came back to class after the assembly this morning and said, Why would anyone treat that sweet little girl that way?"
Whether Rachel's Challenge will bear long-term effects on the student body as a whole, time will tell. Seth Miceli says he plans to live by all five challenges to start a chain reaction.
HEATH SHOOTING
Western Kentucky is certainly no stranger to school violence. Two years before Columbine, Michael Carneal opened fire on a group of students at Heath High School in west Paducah, killing three. Rachel Scott's father Darrell Scott, who founded the movement, will present Rachel's Challenge to students in Graves County September 2.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
911 audio for this piece courtesy of http://acolumbinesite.com