Rachel’s Challenge offered to Bay Village community members on Oct. 17

The Bay Village City School District invites community members to hear an evening presentation of Rachel’s Challenge, a program about treating others with respect, on Monday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m. at Bay High School auditorium.

Rachel Joy Scott was the first person killed in the Columbine High School tragedy on April 20, 1999. Immediately after the tragedy, her father Darrell began to speak around the nation, and he used writings and drawings from Rachel's many diaries to illustrate the need for a kinder, more compassionate nation. Today, Darrell and thirty other speakers honor Rachel's life by reaching the nation with Rachel's simple but profound message.

Bay High and Bay Middle School students will hear the presentation at school assemblies earlier in the day and learn about Rachel’s Challenge, which is to help change the world by starting a chain reaction of kindness and compassion.

“It's free, it's easy and it's empowering to realize that one person can make a difference,” say the group’s organizers. Staff and student leaders will get follow-up training on how they can sustain the assembly’s momentum with students. The community presentation will challenge parents and community members, and show them how they can reinforce the decisions their youth are making.

“This is one more opportunity to talk to students about the importance of how we treat one another,” said Kevin Jakub, Bay Middle School assistant principal and one of the Bay Village program’s coordinators. “Our schools bring in many programs to help students understand how destructive bullying can be and how their choices, both good and bad, can have lasting consequences.”

Jakub points out that the schools work closely with local law enforcement and other professionals offering intervention services for students experiencing behavioral and substance abuse problems.

The Rachel’s Challenge objectives for schools are: to create a safe learning environment for all students by re-establishing civility and delivering proactive anecdotes to school violence and bullying; to improve academic achievement by engaging students' hearts, heads and hands in the learning process; to provide students with social/emotional education that is both colorblind and culturally relevant, and to train adults to inspire, equip and empower students to affect permanent, positive change.