Wyoming Area Friends of Rachel will be selling T-shirts at AxelRad’s website: https://tinyurl.com/ddsmrt26. Profits will go back to the Friends of Rachel Club for operating costs to run the club.
Submitted photo
EXETER — Rachel Joy Scott may not be a household name, but every since she was fatally shot during the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, where she and 11 other students along with a teacher were senselessly murdered, her memory continues on through a message of hope.
Scott, just 17 years old at the time of her death, was described as a devout Christian who has had several books written about her which became the inspiration for Rachel’s Challenge, an international school outreach program advocating her values based on her beliefs through her personal journals.
Just two months before her death, she penned a school essay entitled “My Ethics; My Codes of Life,” which advocates her belief in compassion with love being the greatest gift to offer fellow beings.
According to RachelsChallenge.org, “Rachel Challenge envision schools full of hope, free from harassment, violence and self-harm, where teachers are free to teach and students are inspired to learn.”
In January 2020, Larry Scott, Rachel’s uncle, visited Wyoming Area Secondary Center and gave a highly emotional speech to students, faculty, staff and community.
Since 2020, students and faculty decided to be a part of the Friend’s of Rachel Club with the guidance of then principal and now school superintendent, Dr. Jon Pollard, and Shaun Rohland, assistant principal of discipline, by highlighting school bullying, student suicides and gun violence.
With school interruptions such as home schooling due to COVID-19, the students at Wyoming Area have picked up the baton and are now fully committed to Rachel’s challenge.
Gianna Jadus, an incoming senior at Wyoming Area, serves as president of the Friends of Rachel Club.
Jadus said an online fundraising event would be taking place from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15, selling Wyoming Area Friends of Rachel T-shirts through AxelRad Shop, which can be purchased at https://tinyurl.com/ddsmrt26.
Adult T-shirts can be purchased in two colors: turquoise (short sleeve) and gray (long sleeve) as well as a youth T-shirt.
Adult gray long sleeve shirts are $20, a short sleeve turquoise V-neck is $18, a short sleeve turquoise regular neck is $15, and the youth turquoise regular neck t-shirt is $15.00.
Starting at the beginning of the school year, students will be recognized by fellow students, faculty or staff doing an act of kindness.
A chain link of kindness will be created and joined together as the school year progresses. For every act of kindness, a student’s name will be placed on the strip of paper then glued at the ends and connected to the chain.
“If you saw somebody struggling opening a locker and another student helped them without being asked or told to do it, that student helping would get a strip of paper with their name on it and placed in the chain,” Jadus said.
Jadus, who has been fully committed to the Friends of Rachel program, was a seventh grade when she was locked in her classroom because of a potential active shooter in the building.
The following school year, a fellow student took his life, further affecting Jadus’ life.
“We’ve had a lot of bad stuff happen in school and we (students) never really had the chance to talk about it or bounce back from it,” Jadus said. “That’s what we hope will happen with Rachel’s Club, to get people to talk about being upset about something or if something is troubling them.”
On Sept. 28, 2022, there will be a special one-hour Rachel’s Challenge, Part I presentation for grades 7, 8, 9 and a one-hour Rachel’s Legacy, Part II presentation for grades 10, 11, and 12.
On the same day, FoR Training will take place for 100 positive leaders as well as negative leaders students in the school.
A community event will take place serving food at 5:30 p.m. and a live presentation in the Secondary Center auditorium at 6 p.m.
Jadus said a tentative basketball Friends of Rachel fundraiser game would be played at the end of October where students will face the faculty.
There will be a Rachel’s Rally in the spring of 2023 with details to be presented closer to the event.
“I’m really excited about this and I’m happy it will be run by students,” Jadus added. “Wyoming Area is more than sporting programs. We really want to get out there and we want to show the community this is what we are. We are stronger united and doesn’t matter what comes our way. This program will teach us what we can do in the future to help other people. I want to leave a legacy like Rachel left a legacy and I don’t want this program to end once I graduate.”
