newswatcher26
12-07-2009, 03:36 PM
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090712/NEWS01/907120361/1116/Program+designed+to+help+youths
Program designed to help youths
July 12, 2009
I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same."
By the time Darrell and Sandy Scott read those words written by their 17-year-old daughter Rachel, she had been killed at Columbine High School.
They coped with the tragedy by using her words' transformative power to encourage a more compassionate world. They created a program called Rachel's Challenge, telling listeners to look for the best in others, set goals, choose your influences, speak soft words - and start a chain reaction of kindness that will ripple into the world.
At 7 p.m. July 30, it will be presented at Binghamton University by Chenango Valley High School alum Dave Gamache. The public is welcome, but seating is limited, so reservations are vital.
So far, 11 million people in 50 states and six countries have been introduced to the age- appropriate RC programs and their accompanying workshops and other activities.
Alan Outman, 19, attended a RC assembly last year at Chenango Valley Senior High. "There was a palpable result even before the presentation had concluded," he says. "I saw both girls and guys crying after the presentation."
It brought students and staff together, connecting them beyond what he thought possible, he says. "Students that I had never seen acknowledge each other - let alone talk to each other - were supporting each other and having conversations."
Dave's familiar with that reaction, which is why he's so passionate about RC. He moved his family from Binghamton to be a more vital part of the RC organization in Colorado last summer.
"At one school, a young man gave me a hit list of kids he planned on eliminating and he said he didn't want to feel that way anymore," Dave says. "In another school, in upstate New York, a young man approached me and said he understood how Eric (Harris) and Dylan (Klebold) felt, and he was on a path to do some thing similar."
Eight or more school shootings and more than 150 suicides have been averted due to the impact of Rachel's story - and those are documented, Dave says.
Kids inundated with images of violence as "entertainment" need to see the real-life impact such violence has, he says.
And the sooner that message is conveyed, the better, says Suzanne M. Klym, former co-president of the Maine-Endwell Middle School PTSA. "I do think the presentation's message can help, especially if the program is implemented earlier in the elementary schools," she says. "Having a powerful message based on true events is more powerful than any phrase or message (kids) have heard every day from their parents and teachers."
Her group hosted the program in that school, as have many others - with more already scheduled as the program's value becomes known.
"There is always a need to look forward and figure out how we can make a difference in a student's life and how others can impact change; this is exactly what Rachel's Challenge does for students," says Lisa Schuchman, principal of Norwich Middle School, which will see the program on Sept. 11.
One painful irony isn't lost on Dave Gamache: He left quiet Binghamton to bring a message of peace to the world and he's returning to a place cloaked in the same sort of tragedy as experienced at Columbine.
"The events that transpired in Binghamton at the Civic Association have only made me more passionate about sharing Rachel's message with every person in the U.S., not just students in school," he says.
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good page from Judicial Inc about Rachel Scott
http://judicial-inc.biz/85rachel_joy_scott_killed_because.htm
Rachel Joy Scott
http://judicial-inc.biz/85rach29.jpg
Killed Because She Was A Christian
Program designed to help youths
July 12, 2009
I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same."
By the time Darrell and Sandy Scott read those words written by their 17-year-old daughter Rachel, she had been killed at Columbine High School.
They coped with the tragedy by using her words' transformative power to encourage a more compassionate world. They created a program called Rachel's Challenge, telling listeners to look for the best in others, set goals, choose your influences, speak soft words - and start a chain reaction of kindness that will ripple into the world.
At 7 p.m. July 30, it will be presented at Binghamton University by Chenango Valley High School alum Dave Gamache. The public is welcome, but seating is limited, so reservations are vital.
So far, 11 million people in 50 states and six countries have been introduced to the age- appropriate RC programs and their accompanying workshops and other activities.
Alan Outman, 19, attended a RC assembly last year at Chenango Valley Senior High. "There was a palpable result even before the presentation had concluded," he says. "I saw both girls and guys crying after the presentation."
It brought students and staff together, connecting them beyond what he thought possible, he says. "Students that I had never seen acknowledge each other - let alone talk to each other - were supporting each other and having conversations."
Dave's familiar with that reaction, which is why he's so passionate about RC. He moved his family from Binghamton to be a more vital part of the RC organization in Colorado last summer.
"At one school, a young man gave me a hit list of kids he planned on eliminating and he said he didn't want to feel that way anymore," Dave says. "In another school, in upstate New York, a young man approached me and said he understood how Eric (Harris) and Dylan (Klebold) felt, and he was on a path to do some thing similar."
Eight or more school shootings and more than 150 suicides have been averted due to the impact of Rachel's story - and those are documented, Dave says.
Kids inundated with images of violence as "entertainment" need to see the real-life impact such violence has, he says.
And the sooner that message is conveyed, the better, says Suzanne M. Klym, former co-president of the Maine-Endwell Middle School PTSA. "I do think the presentation's message can help, especially if the program is implemented earlier in the elementary schools," she says. "Having a powerful message based on true events is more powerful than any phrase or message (kids) have heard every day from their parents and teachers."
Her group hosted the program in that school, as have many others - with more already scheduled as the program's value becomes known.
"There is always a need to look forward and figure out how we can make a difference in a student's life and how others can impact change; this is exactly what Rachel's Challenge does for students," says Lisa Schuchman, principal of Norwich Middle School, which will see the program on Sept. 11.
One painful irony isn't lost on Dave Gamache: He left quiet Binghamton to bring a message of peace to the world and he's returning to a place cloaked in the same sort of tragedy as experienced at Columbine.
"The events that transpired in Binghamton at the Civic Association have only made me more passionate about sharing Rachel's message with every person in the U.S., not just students in school," he says.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
good page from Judicial Inc about Rachel Scott
http://judicial-inc.biz/85rachel_joy_scott_killed_because.htm
Rachel Joy Scott
http://judicial-inc.biz/85rach29.jpg
Killed Because She Was A Christian