Did you know that 160,000 students skip school every day for the fear of being bullied?
On April 20th, 1999 two teens went into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and went on a shooting spree. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were the shooters, and they killed 13 people and wounded more than 20 others, before committing suicide. The Columbine High School shooting was the worst high school shooting in the world. The reasoning behind the shooting was because the boys were being bullied. They were members of different groups and gangs, influenced by violent video games and music. But none were proven to be the cause of the shooting.
At 11:19 Eric and Dylan began shooting fellow classmates outside the high school. Rachel Joy Scott was the first person killed. They gunned down most of their victims in the library. By 11:35 they had already killed 12 students, a teacher, and wounded 20 more people. Shortly after 12 the boys committed suicide.
Did you know that “the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. history took place on April 16th, 2007, when a gunman killed 32 people before killing himself at Virginia Tech, a public university in Blacksburg, Virginia.”
Harris and Klebold were driving separate cars that morning. They had set bombs in the cafeteria to go off at 11:17. But they failed to go off once the boys were back in the parking lot. Once both boys realized the bombs failed, they just started shooting on foot. The boys choose their victims randomly, their main intention was to bomb the school, killing hundreds of their classmates and teachers. Both boys were apart of a group called Trench coat Mafia that was revolved around the Goth culture. Investigators found out that the boys had been planning to bomb the school for a year, like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings.
Cassie Bernall was killed because she believed in God. Later it showed that the shot wasn’t meant for Cassie, it was for someone that was already wounded by a gunshot. Cassie’s parents wrote a book called, “She said yes.” Dave Cullen the author of “Columbine” said that Harris was “the callously brutal mastermind” while Klebold was “quivering depressive who journaled obsessively about love and attended the Columbine prom three days before opening fire.”
In the aftermath of the shooting, many schools enacted the “zero tolerance” rules. Columbine did reopen in the fall of 1999, but the massacre left a scar on Littleton. Mark Manes was the person who sold the gun and bullets to Harris, and he was sentenced to 6 years in jail. Philip Duran who introduced the boys to Mane was also put in jail. Some victims and families filed a suit against the school, but most of them were dismissed in court later.
Many students that knew Rachel reached out to share their stories with Rachel’s parents about her simple acts of kindness that had a huge impact on their lives. Rachel’s vision started a chain reaction of kindness and compassion. Every year over 1.5 million people are involved in Rachel’s Challenge programs. More than 1,200 schools and businesses are reached. Over 150 suicides are averted, bullying and violence decreased, and community service and acts of kindness increased.
The objectives of all the programs is to continue Rachel’s legacy and to help schools and businesses become safer, and more connected places to live and learn. Stimulate real culture change by actively involving the entire community in the process. Change lives by providing culturally relevant social/emotional training. Increase achievement and ensure results by engaging the participants’ heart, head and hands in a continuing improvement process.
“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. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.” – Rachel Scott.