The numbers “9 11” can mean many things to the average American citizen. To some, it is the number you dial when you need help. To others, it is the date of the nation’s most personal injury. On a Friday morning, it is the time Fossil Ridge High School students go to advisory. But on Sept. 7, Fossil’s freshmen had a different destination.
Like on an assembly line, the freshmen piled into the PAC, chattering with each other in excitement and leaning off the sides of the angled stone balconies to touch the hands of their friends below. Like ants, they scattered and circled to find their advisory teacher’s row, hoping to sit next to their best friend. This assembly, they assumed, would be just like every other pointless gathering they had attended; dull and a waste of time.
Photo by Abbie Hanawalt
But as the room filled and assistant principal Brad Nye entered the stage, a calm fell over the children in a curtain of hushes, and everything was suddenly in order. And as Nye passed the baton to David Gamache, the speaker of the day, everything in the room seemed to change. His first words were those of sadness, speaking of how his best friend Craig had a sister, and how 13 years ago she was taken away from him in a high school called Columbine by two very lost boys. An incredibly powerful video was shown, screening real footage from the disaster and indicating to the freshmen how serious the calamity truly was. As we relived the terrifying moments together in our comforting plastic chairs, the words, “the waiting for family and loved ones was terror,” rang in our heads, watching the majority of parents hugging their children in relief and sobbing joy… as well as watching the very unfortunate few holding onto each other in grievous sorrow.
The thought of losing a loved one to a tragedy such as this hit the auditorium in such a vicious reality. The same chattering best friends and scoffing underclassmen were left speechless. Respectful silence overcame the room, intensely listening freshmen sitting motionless in their seats, completely engaged and entranced even as the video came to a close and Gamache continued.
His continuation, however, was different than anticipated. He spoke of the beauty of Rachel’s existence and what she stood for in life rather than death. Rachel was compared to Anne Frank intensely, noting the close similarities the two girls had. They both predicted incredible destinies for themselves; Rachel’s hands touched millions of peoples hearts, Anne Frank became one of the most famous authors in history. Both had very similar ideas of kindness and compassion, and their legacy has lived on. They were even killed for the same man, Adolf Hitler, as Rachel’s murderers were influenced by the dictator and chose the day of his birthday to carry out their horrific plan.
But what Gamache focused on was stronger than death; he stated that both believed in seemingly impossible futures for themselves. And he told our freshman class this: “Impossible is a choice. The only thing stopping you is you.” The way for us to achieve our impossible dreams was in these three steps: dream big, write goals, and perhaps the strangest and most embarrassing step, keep a journal. Gamache assured us, however, that journaling is not a girl thing. Writing a legacy is for all ages, all genders, and all people.
Gamache also surprised us when he spoke of “standing up for the Eric and Dylan’s of the world,” not the dispatching of them. Our initial understanding was that these two were evil, wrong, and a menace that had plagued the community with ruin and depression. We had been told that the two took Adolf Hitler as a role model, using his very principles to rule their thoughts and actions. What Gamache brought to our attention was what we ordinarily did not think of; there are many people who can relate to the two boys in our very school. Perhaps they do not hold such radical ideals as Dylan and Eric, but those two boys and the students in our school have one very important thing in common: they both feel alone.
In a high school setting, there is never a time when everything is right and well with everyone. When we see misguided people, we normally shun them in fear of what they are capable of. Gamache enlightened the freshmen when he encouraged them to embrace those people. Rachel, he noted, mostly reached out to three different types of people: special needs students, new students, and bullied students. In a way, Rachel acted as the glue that kept her community together, and when she wrote “don’t let your character change color with your environment,” she used it in her every day actions as well. Our role is not to tear apart the groups that frighten us or make us scorn, but to embrace everyone we can as if we were living our last moments, just like Rachel.
“Now, these goals are all good and dandy,” I thought to myself, “but I’m no Rachel Scott; I’m just Vickie.” Ah, but that’s where I was wrong. David Gamache’s last and most important point was the importance of self-belief. Two boys with a fuel and an agenda changed how people hear the word “Columbine” for years to come. Why can’t one with a passion and an agenda do the same thing with the word “kindness”? Or “high school”? The lesson of the day: one can. Gamache gave us one last list to remember, a set of five challenges to use in our every day lives.
- Look for the best in others
- Dream Big
- Choose positive influences
- Speak with kindness
- Start your own chain reaction
It’s overwhelming for most to wake up and tell yourself you’re going to change the world, like Rachel did. It’s even overwhelming for most to tell yourself you’re going to be nice to a certain group of people for an entire school year. Rachel’s Challenge is not a program which insists that you spend every waking moment planning your future
and suddenly transform yourself into the perfect person. Rachel’s Challenge is to take kindness one step at a time. Even if it’s only one kind act a day, even if it’s simply finding the good in that annoying boy in your math class or deciding to refrain from cursing at your teacher when she gives you detention for being late. Change is change. Even the teachers and staff members who attended received enlightenment.
Brad Nye described it as an “all age message” and that staff members get the same thing as the students: support for each other, how to interact, and how to treat each other. FRHS science teacher Daniel Dannahower described the experience as a reliving of 13 years ago. “Being a father,” Dannahower said, “it made me want to care for my family in a deeper way.” The two staff members also gave similar input as to what Rachel’s story really is. “She stood for something important,” Dannahower said, “That dream she had didn’t die when she died… when things happen, they’re big at first… but they fizzle out. Rachel was a legacy… she never fizzled out.”
Nye found something similar in Rachel’s story, attributing her success more to “the courage and compassion she showed throughout her life” as well as the fact that the timeless story focuses on inspiration rather than tragedy.
What Rachel’s Challenge brings is more than a wives tale, more than a horror story, more than a tragedy. As freshman Reven Jensen put it, it told “not to be prejudiced [towards others] and to get to know them first.” Rachel’s is the story about a beautiful girl who saw everyone in a beautiful way. Our school is the only fully dedicated, intensely focused school which has adopted a one of a kind four-year Rachel’s Challenge program. We are celebrating what Rachel stood for, as did all of the freshmen who signed the banner and accepted Rachel’s Challenge. Their names will always be inked on that contract, and every time they pass it in the hallway or even look at it, David Gamache, as well as Rachel herself, has given them the challenge to remind themselves: “I need to take care of people today.” It’s a dream, it’s a promise, and it’s a challenge; I accept. The freshmen accepted. Do you?
