The Victims of the Columbine Shooting
Chapter 5- Victim: Rachel Scott
Born August 5, 1981
age 17,
killed by shots to the head, torso, and leg on a grassy area next to the West Entrance of the school. She was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre. She has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel's Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence, based on her life and writings. The program's speakers include her father, Darrell Scott, and brothers, Craig and Mike Scott. Her mother, Beth Nimmo, has also authored books and is the speaker for Rachel Joy Scott Ministries, to perpetuate her daughter's legacy. After the massacre, Chuck Norris dedicated his autobiography to Rachel Scott.
At the time of her death, the 17-year old Columbine High School junior was an aspiring writer and actress. She had the leading role in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center Church near Littleton and was known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness.
Shortly before her death, Rachel wrote an essay for school stating, “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.” Some sources claim that the journal Rachel kept shared some similarities to Anne Frank's famous diary. Both girls preached compassion and care.
Rachel was shot while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn outside the school's library. She was killed by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold with multiple gunshot wounds to her head, chest, arm, and leg. After the killings, her car was turned into a flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.
Rachel Joy Scott was posthumously awarded the 2001 National Kindness Award for Student of the Year by the Acts of Kindness Association. In 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) of New York awarded Darrell Scott and Rachel’s Challenge the Friend of Education Award.
In June, 2009, Darrell Scott was selected in a nationwide vote of more than 750,000 baseball fans as the Colorado Rockies "All-Stars Among Us" winner, based on individual public service for his efforts in starting the Rachel's Challenge campaign. He was honored along with the other 29 winners representing all major league baseball teams as part of the pregame ceremonies at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 14, 2009.
Early news reports said that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God and that she had simply answered "You know I do". Her response provoked a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range
This was based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel by name for her beliefs.
Scott's funeral on April 24, 1999, was attended by more than 2,000 people and was televised throughout the nation. It was the most watched event on CNN up to that point, surpassing even the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Roger Rosenblatt of Time magazine wrote in his commentary that her funeral was "... ineradicable because of the photograph of your bright and witty face, now sadly familiar to the country, and because of the loving and admiring testimonies of your family."
age 17,
killed by shots to the head, torso, and leg on a grassy area next to the West Entrance of the school. She was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre. She has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel's Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence, based on her life and writings. The program's speakers include her father, Darrell Scott, and brothers, Craig and Mike Scott. Her mother, Beth Nimmo, has also authored books and is the speaker for Rachel Joy Scott Ministries, to perpetuate her daughter's legacy. After the massacre, Chuck Norris dedicated his autobiography to Rachel Scott.
At the time of her death, the 17-year old Columbine High School junior was an aspiring writer and actress. She had the leading role in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center Church near Littleton and was known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness.
Shortly before her death, Rachel wrote an essay for school stating, “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.” Some sources claim that the journal Rachel kept shared some similarities to Anne Frank's famous diary. Both girls preached compassion and care.
Rachel was shot while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn outside the school's library. She was killed by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold with multiple gunshot wounds to her head, chest, arm, and leg. After the killings, her car was turned into a flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.
Rachel Joy Scott was posthumously awarded the 2001 National Kindness Award for Student of the Year by the Acts of Kindness Association. In 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) of New York awarded Darrell Scott and Rachel’s Challenge the Friend of Education Award.
In June, 2009, Darrell Scott was selected in a nationwide vote of more than 750,000 baseball fans as the Colorado Rockies "All-Stars Among Us" winner, based on individual public service for his efforts in starting the Rachel's Challenge campaign. He was honored along with the other 29 winners representing all major league baseball teams as part of the pregame ceremonies at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 14, 2009.
Early news reports said that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God and that she had simply answered "You know I do". Her response provoked a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range
This was based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel by name for her beliefs.
Scott's funeral on April 24, 1999, was attended by more than 2,000 people and was televised throughout the nation. It was the most watched event on CNN up to that point, surpassing even the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Roger Rosenblatt of Time magazine wrote in his commentary that her funeral was "... ineradicable because of the photograph of your bright and witty face, now sadly familiar to the country, and because of the loving and admiring testimonies of your family."