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Partnering with Rachel's
Challenge
September 2010 kicks off a new
school year for students in Greenwich and Schuylerville, but
this time the healthy rivalry will feel a little different.
Thanks to the generosity of John Hedbring, President of the
Fort Miller Group Inc, students in both districts will
experience Rachel’s Challenge – a powerful program
encouraging students to act with compassion thereby starting
a chain reaction of kindness. Both districts hope this
message will create a bridge between the students of
Greenwich and Schuylerville, forging a sense of
responsibility and community. As a result, schools should
see a decrease in bullying and an increase in displays of
character and peer advocacy. This powerful program has the
ability to shift the culture of our schools. The Rachel's
Challenge presentations will be a joint effort between the
Greenwich and Schuylerville Central School Districts.
Schuylerville will host the presentations for the 3rd-8th
grades on September 27th and 28th. Greenwich will host the
presentations for the 9th-12th grades on September 29th.
There will be 2 presentations for the general public, 1 in
Schuylerville on the evening of September 28th and 1 in
Greenwich on the evening of September 29th.
Who Is
Rachel Scott?
Rachel Scott was the first person
killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Her
brother, Craig, was in the library that day and lost two
close friends and narrowly escaped death himself. He was the
only student at Columbine who was in the library, the worst
of the killing zone, and also lost a sibling. Rachel’s acts
of kindness and compassion coupled with the contents of her
six diaries have become the foundation for the most
life-changing school program in America.
Powerful audio/video footage of
Rachel's Challenge holds students spell-bound during a
one-hour school presentation that motivates them to positive
change in the way they treat others. This is followed by a
45-minute training session involving both teachers and
students. This is an interactive session that shows how to
sustain the momentum created by the assembly. That evening
the Rachel’s Challenge speaker conducts a powerful session
for parents and community leaders.
What
is Rachel's Challenge?
A few weeks after the tragedy
Darrell Scott, Rachel’s father, spoke to a Congress House
Judiciary Committee regarding issues of school violence. His
speech has become one of the most widely read on the
internet. Shortly afterwards he founded “Rachel’s
Challenge”, a non-violence school program. Since it’s
beginning and through 2005 over 400,000 students have heard
the Rachel’s Challenge presentation. In 2006 more than
475,000 students will have experienced Rachel’s Challenge
and had the opportunity to accept the challenges, modeled
after Rachel’s life and writings. The universal message of
kindness and compassion told by Rachel’s story has been
heard by students in several other countries. The number of
requests to present Rachel’s Challenge to students, parents,
and educators continues to increase. This year the number of
students to hear Rachel’s story will be 1,000,000. Mr. Scott
has spoken to over 5 million people in live settings, and
has reached millions more through being featured on popular
media outlets like CNN, Fox News, The Today Show, Good
Morning America, Larry King Live, Oprah, Dateline, O’Reilly
Factor, Hannity and Colmes, and numerous others. Mr. Scott
has also authored three books including the best seller
“Rachel’s Tears.” Darrell meets regularly with state level
politicians and educators, and is also a keynote speaker at
many large educational venues. President George W. Bush has
written a personal letter recommending Rachel’s Challenge. A
wide scope of endorsements are available upon request.
In 2005, Rachel’s Challenge was
awarded the Friends of Education award from the state of New
York. The school program founded by Mr. Scott has prevented
numerous suicides, drastically reduced bullying, and in
three known instances prevented a planned school shooting.
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