On Tuesday, October 10, Northern High School hosted Nate Rees from Rachel’s Challenge. The students heard about Rachel Scott, the first student to be shot and killed at the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Rachel embraced kindness and compassion before her death to make her school a better place.

After her death, the Scott family found notes and messages that Rachel had left behind. Underneath her dresser drawer, she traced both of her hands and wrote “These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch millions of people’s hearts.” She has accomplished this goal through Rachel’s Challenge, a non profit organization set out to start a chain reaction of kindness and compassion.

Across the nation, schools are being challenged to look for the best in others, dream big, choose positive influences, speak with kindness, and start their own chain reaction (Rachelschallenge.org). Northern High School accepted the challenge and already started making the school a better place. There are chain links strung throughout the hallways, each one containing an act of kindness. Messages of encouraging words hang on walls and lockers. Students  also started a compliments page on instagram where they anonymously post compliments about others around the school.

One step at a time, Northern High School is spreading Rachel’s Challenge and beginning our own chain reaction.

Alyson Huth