Columbine Story

This is a little change in pace from the last post, but I figured I would post it anyway. This is the long version of the story I wrote about a presentation by a survivor of the Columbine High School shooting in April 1999. It’s pretty long, but I put a lot of research and time into it and I think it has a good message.

Last Thursday, students arrived at the Convocation Center 30 minutes early in to get seats for the highly anticipated presentation by Craig Scott, a Columbine High School shooting survivor who hid underneath a table in the school’s library and witnessed his two best friends being killed on either side of him.

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had made plans to set off two bombs in their school’s cafeteria, but when the bombs did not detonate on time, they took matters into their own hands. Harris and Klebold entered the school from the cafeteria’s side entrance at 11:19 a.m., killing Rachel Scott, Craig’s sister, and wounding another as they made their way to the most crowded room of their school. Fortunately, a teacher had heard the gun shots just beyond the door and evacuated the cafeteria before the two gunmen made their way in.

That did not stop the two shooters who had hoped for many deaths after the detonation of the bombs. Harris and Klebold then headed to the library where a teacher had students hiding under the tables while she called the police. Her call was recorded and released to news stations. In the library, Craig Scott was hiding with his two best friends, Isaiah Shoels and Matthew Kechter. Scott listened as Shoels was fed derogatory racial statements just before Harris shot him at close range in the chest. Craig said that Shoels dying words were of his mother. Harris then turned to Ketcher and opened fired, leaving Scott laying a pool of his best friends’ blood as he pretended to be dead. In the seven minutes the gunmen spent in the library, 10 students were killed.

Scott opened his presentation by expressing his disappointment that the Duke Dog was not there to dance on stage. He went on to tell the crowd he would dance for them in the middle of the show, but that his dancing skills were below par.

“I’m white,” he said as the audience laughed at his demonstration.

Scott continued by explaining that he wanted to keep the presentation as positive as possible, despite its overall content. He spoke slowly and clearly as he introduced the rest of his presentation.

After an unexpectedly upbeat opening, Scott continued with a video describing the events of April 20, 1999. The video was mainly composed of news clips that had been breaking news the day of the massacre.

As Scott began telling the story of his 17-year-old sister, he asked the crowd what women wrote in diaries and what men wrote in journals. After a few people raised their hands and Scott confessed that he actually couldn’t see anyone in the audience because of the lighting, he explained the importance of putting your goals and experiences on paper. He compared his sister, Rachel, to Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who hid from the Germans with her family during World War II and documented her life in a diary that was later published. Scott said that Rachel used to write everything down and had written in about six diaries throughout her life. She wrote poems, quotations, and goals for herself.

On one of the pages, Rachel wrote “I’m going to have an impact on the world.”

According to friends and family, Rachel frequently talked about her life ending sooner than others and how she would impact the lives of many. Scott clarified that Rachel was not suicidal but somehow knew she would not live to be very old. The premonitions of her death scared her family, but her friends did not take her seriously. It wasn’t until after her death that they all realized the truth in Rachel’s statements.

At a young age, Rachel traced her hands on the back of a dresser and wrote that one day those hands would touch millions of lives. Since her death, the Friends of Rachel program was started by her family and her father, brother and sister have gone around the country spreading the philosophy of kindness that Rachel practiced before her death.

A few weeks before her death, Rachel’s father, Darrell, got a call from a man in Ohio who said he had been having a dream about Rachel and wanted to know if it meant anything to their family. The man described Rachel’s eyes with tears flowing from them and landing on the ground where something grew from the moisture. He said the growth was a living thing, but he did not know what it was. A week after Rachel’s death, the Scott family was given Rachel’s book bag that had been kept for evidence. Inside the bag was the last journal she had been writing in before her death. On the last page, there was a drawing of two eyes with 13 tear drops falling to the ground where a rose was sprouting from the tears. 13 people died in the massacre. Rachel had drawn the image just 30 minutes before she was killed.

While revealing Rachel’s shocking premonitions, Scott described Rachel’s way of life. She believed that you could start a chain reaction with just one act of kindness. Rachel reached out to those that did not have many friends, losing her own friends as a result. She became less concerned with her popularity and more concerned about helping those in need. In particular, she helped Adam, a student that did not have many friends and was contemplating suicide the day that Rachel approached him. She gave him a resource, someone to lean on during hard times. Adam said that it was because of Rachel that he was still alive.

“After hearing how much she helped others, I want to strive to be like her,” said Molly Miller, a freshman. “It’s amazing how one person can touch so many lives.”

While Scott shared the story of his sister and the tragedy nine years ago, he passed along five challenges to the audience. These challenges were adopted from the writings of his sister.

1. Choose positive influences. It was proven that Harris and Klebold had watched the same movie over 100 times before rushing into Columbine High School on April 20. The movie included gun violence and death.

2. Dare to dream. Scott stressed the importance of writing goals down in a journal. He noted that it is important to know what is possible in life.

Rachel wrote on the back of her journal, “I won’t be labeled as average.” Just under that quotation was where a bullet went through her book bag and journal and into her body.

Scott also challenged the educational system to “develop character within today.” He wants the system to educate the heart as well as the mind. Rachel felt that education of the heart was the aspect missing in schools. Violence had begun to take over. Before her death, Rachel wrote a poem that stated she thought she was going to be killed, a subject out of the ordinary for such a positive person.

3. Kind words and little acts of kindness make a big difference.
In one of her journals, Rachel wrote “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.” That statement is the one that sparked the creation of the Friends of Rachel program which is now a part of many elementary schools and high schools. James Madison University was the first college to start a chapter of Friends of Rachel.

4. Eliminate prejudice. Scott said that prejudice simply means to “pre-judge” a person based on the look of them. He wanted to challenge the audience to eliminate prejudice “by looking for the best in others.” Scott’s best friend Isaiah had racial slurs thrown at him just before his death. They were the last words he heard before he was killed.

Rachel wrote,” look hard enough and you will always find a light…” Scott went on to add that if you look within someone as opposed to their skin color it is likely you will find a person you weren’t expecting to find. He challenged the audience to think about how they have treated others in the past and whether or not they regretted some of their actions.

5. Tell five people in your life how much you appreciate them. Scott sent the audience home with one immediate challenge: to tell the ones that are most important to you how much you love them. He went on to say that people are taken for granted in life and it isn’t until a tragedy like the shooting at Columbine that people begin to realize how much someone meant to another.

Scott ended his speech by telling the audience to close their eyes. He asked the audience to picture everyone they loved in a room facing them. Then, he asked the audience to say goodbye to those loved ones.

“I didn’t start to cry until he told me to picture saying goodbye to my family,” said Amanda Michetti. “It makes me want to reach out to my family and friends and tell them how much I appreciate them.”

At the conclusion of the presentation, nearly every student in the Convocation Center was in tears. Students rushed to the stage to hug Scott and to thank him for coming. Scott stayed to talk with many students, offering comfort and advice to those who asked for it.

“It was one of the most touching presentations I have ever been to,” said Sasha Congiu. “It makes you realize how important the people close to you are.”

-CS