In a packed auditorium Friday morning, students and staff of Derby High School listened in emotionally-charged silence as guest speaker Brandie Orozco presented them with ‘Rachel’s Challenge.’
Orozco, a native of Littleton, Colo., who has traveled across the Americas and Europe to deliver the challenge, made her most recent presentation Friday at Derby High School.
Orozco, who attended school just miles away from Columbine High School, urged all in attendance to bring change to their lives through acts of kindness and compassion inspired by Rachel Scott, the first victim of the Columbine shootings in 1999.
Rachel wrote an essay, ‘My Ethics, My Codes of Life’ which was the focus of the ideas behind the presentation, that continues to influence more than 11 million people all over the world. Rachel’s writing urged its readers to start a “chain reaction” through random acts of kindness.
In the essay, Rachel admitted that her goals of spreading kindness and compassion “seem impossible,” but she believed that the world would “never know how far a little kindness can go” unless we all practice it every day in our lives.
While she delivered ‘Rachel’s Challenge,’ Orozco gave specific methods and suggestions to employ kindness and inspire compassion, as well as information on how to commit to the challenge. During her interactive presentation, Orozco suggested small, achievable habits: keep a journal, record your goals, avoid prejudice, and express feelings for your loved ones.
A sense of warmth filled the auditorium at the conclusion of the presentation as students streamed down the aisles to sign a banner commemorating their commitment to ‘Rachel’s Challenge.’ What began as sorrow for the loss of a young visionary transformed into a greater sense of community as Derby High School moved toward the change Rachel Scott sought to inspire.
For more information on “Rachel’s Challenge,” visit rachelschallenge.org
Collaborative article by Mr. Christian Allard’s Journalism (CP) class
Derby High School, Oct. 20, 2009.
