By Divya Kumar
News Editor

On Oct. 1, a program called Rachel’s Challenge was presented to the students of Coppell High School in the large gym.  What seemingly began as just an average assembly for the school developed into a inspirational experience for the student body, followed by a standing ovation from juniors and seniors.

“Honestly, I was just planning on doing my homework the entire time,” junior student Sarah Rousey said. “Needless to say, it wasn’t like any of the normal inspirational speeches we used to get in teen leadership—it was a real life story with real life effects that really caused me to think about the way I lead life.”

The program began with speaker Cody Hodges introducing the history behind it. Rachel Scott, 17, was the first student shot at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Her funeral, televised live on CNN, got the most views out of anything displayed on the broadcast. It wasn’t this that made the name Rachel Scott well known, however—it was the finding of her diary, weeks after she had died, by her father that prompted the beginnings of the program Rachel’s Challenge.

Rachel’s Challenge involves five basic tasks which speakers urge students at high schools to follow out: have goals and write them down, remove prejudice, look upon positive influences, enact small acts of kindness in everyday life and the fifth, and possibly most important, start a chain reaction of kindness. The program spoke of the importance of kindness and how strongly it can affect the lives of others.

“I’ve always heard about how I should be nice to other people,” sophomore student Monica Blazek said. “It always seemed like an overused phrase, though, and I never thought that being nice to someone one time would actually have the power to change them. After the presentation, I know that it does.”

Rachel’s Challenge, presented to freshmen and sophomores during first period, and to juniors and seniors during second, truly appeared to have an impact on the student body as a whole.

“I had been warned about the clichéd ideas that we usually got during assemblies,” freshman student Mira Shah said. “But Rachel’s Challenge really changed my perspective on a lot of things. I do think that I’m going to accept the challenge because, especially as a freshman, we’re all new and I’m sure that we could all use a bit of kindness, even from upperclassmen.”

To all those who accepted the challenge, like Shah, a banner was available to sign at lunch. The banner will be hung in the commons in order to constantly remind students of their oath to help promote small acts of kindness.

Also, students who have been moved by the program can talk to associate principal Leanne Dorhout in order to be part of the Friends of Rachel club in which students can work together to see how to further promote Rachel’s Challenge and enact its actions throughout the school and community.

To those who have truly been touched by the presentation or would like more information on Rachel’s Challenge, another viewing will be available Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the Lecture Hall for students and parents to attend. To learn more about Rachel’s Challenge, visit www.rachelschallenge.org.