Columbine assembly leaves students teary-eyed, pensive

By Jeff Benzak

One of the most moving and powerful assemblies in the history of Blind Brook High School was held last week, students and teachers said.

The assembly, titled “Rachel’s Challenge,” was held Oct. 19 in the auditorium. It was based on the brief life of Rachel Scott, who seven years ago was the first victim of the fatal shootings at Columbine High School.

The multimedia presentation captivated middle and high school students from the outset, said Christopher Griffin, director of guidance at Blind Brook.

A video montage of news footage was punctuated with in-person comments from Paul Jackson, a Scott family friend who provided mental health counseling to Littleton, Colo., residents after the 1999 shootings.

Griffin said Blind Brook students paid close attention during the Thursday morning assembly, which was followed by a parents’ program in the evening.

“It provoked a lot of emotion and it provoked a lot of conversation,” Griffin said. “Some students found it powerful, other students were moved to tears. Some students were uncomfortable, and there was some sadness and confusion. It’s a very powerful story; it’s a very gripping story. In my many years of working with kids, I rarely see 400 kids not moving, fixated on a topic. And this does it. It’s an awful lot of reality.”

Michael Finiguerra is a sophomore at Blind Brook High. He participated with 30 schoolmates in a peer leadership program held at lunchtime after the assembly. He said the program was powerful.

“After it was over, we all were more quiet,” he said. “I knew everyone was affected by it. You could just tell. The rest of the day wasn’t the same tone; everybody was more respectful of each other.”

Scott was 17 years old on April 20, 1999, the day Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris violently murdered her while she was eating lunch outside Columbine High School. Klebold and Scott killed 11 more of their classmates and a teacher, then turned their guns on themselves.

Scott was a prolific diarist, and her diaries are the basis for the program, which her family began in the years after her death as a way to honor her legacy. The program has been offered at more than 1,000 high schools across the United States.

At Blind Brook, students were told of Scott’s efforts to make outcasts and shy classmates feel like they were part of the group, efforts she recorded in her diaries. They were also told of Scott’s eerie premonitions that she would die young, yet still manage to affect the lives of others.

For example, after Scott died, her family found a drawing she made on the back of a piece of furniture. Scott had traced the outlines of both of her hands, and in the middle wrote, “These hands belong to Rachel Scott and will someday touch millions of peoples’ hearts.”

They certainly seemed to have touched that of Victoria Ferrer, a Blind Brook freshman.

“I thought it was going to be a regular assembly,” she said. “I didn’t think it was going to be as influential and as sad as it really was. I didn’t know how I was going to get through the rest of the day.”

Scott’s story also affected Corrine Segal, a Blind Brook sophomore.

“The things that Rachel wrote about were such good lessons,” she said. “If you see someone sitting alone, go talk to them. There’s always something you can do. Little kindnesses in your everyday life can make a big difference to others.”

The school decided to bring the program to its auditorium last year, after Griffin had heard about it and floated the idea to a coalition of parents and community leaders charged with bringing outside programs into the school.

Students said they will behave differently thanks to the assembly. After they filed out of the auditorium, many signed a banner in the hallway, pledging to maintain respect for others in their daily lives.

Finiguerra said students will now think twice about how they treat other people.

“When they go to be mean to someone, they’re going to think about this, there’s no doubt in my mind,” he said.

This is part of the October 27, 2006 online edition of Rye Brook Westmore News.

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