The Tige r Times - Gunter ISD

District News
On Monday, January 24, Rachel‟s Challenge came to Gunter
ISD. For those of you who might not be familiar with this program,
it is a program that features a guest speaker who comes
into the school and basically kicks off a program to emphasize
the importance of kindness and compassion among students in a
school. The program addresses several issues ranging from
cliques (exclusion) to prejudices to bullying. It is a very comprehensive
program that is meant to use commitments from
students, staff, parents, and community members to impact the
climate of school campuses in a positive way.
The whole concept of the initiative is based upon the story of
Rachel Scott. Rachel was the first of thirteen victims who lost
their lives in the Columbine High School tragedy in the spring of
1999. Rachel Scott was an admirer of Ann Frank who was a
victim of the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler‟s Nazi regime. Like
Ann Frank, Rachel kept a diary in which she expressed many of
her feelings and established the basis for her code of ethics.
There were stunning similarities between Rachel and Ann. Both
had basically the same passion for kindness and compassion and
knew the impact that those simple attributes could have on the
world. Ironically, but not coincidentally, the two students that
committed the murder/suicide at Columbine were admirers of
Hitler and chose his birthday (April 20) to execute their plan.
After her death, many things about Rachel‟s life were brought
to light. She was an extraordinary young person who seemed to
have a premonition of dying at a young age. She also had developed
her own set of core beliefs or “code of ethics” that she was
passionate about. She had a theory that people could commit
simple acts of kindness and that it could start a “chain reaction
of kindness” that could change the world. Students and staff are
led through a very powerful and meaningful presentation in
which they learn about a handful of simple, yet important, goals.
These goals include:
Look for the best in others: Eliminate prejudices of all
kinds
Dare to dream: Put your goals in writing; keep a journal.
Don‟t let others determine your dreams.
Choose positive influences: Input determines output.
Page 2
Students, community accept Rachel’s Challenge
By GHS Principal Kelly Teems
Kind words: Practice simple acts
of kindness each day. You‟ll be
surprised at what a huge impact that
can have.
Start a chain reaction: Random
acts of kindness by one person, then
another, then another, etc., can start
a chain reaction that could change
the world.
The presenter facilitated to two groups
of students and staff. The first group included
all students in grades 7 - 9 and the second group included
all 10 th – 12 th Mr. Teems
graders. The presenter, Cody Hodges, is a former
quarterback at Texas Tech and had heard Rachel‟s father speak
on this topic when he was in college. He told how it changed his
life and how he used these principles to overcome adversity and
to keep him focused on what his dreams and goals were. He
pointed out many problems that students face in schools today
and used the five goals to show how these problems could be
eliminated if students made the commitment to practice these
initiatives.
Finally, he asked students to “Accept Rachel‟s Challenge” by
making those commitments. Students accepted the challenge by
signing a banner which states “I Accept Rachel‟s Challenge.”
There is a banner for both the Middle School campus and the
High School campus.
Later that afternoon, Mr. Hodges conducted a training session
for a representative group of students and staff. He offered ways
to get students and staff involved and to keep the initiative going
so that the enthusiasm and emotion that the day‟s events would
not fade away. Finally, there was one last presentation for the
parents and community that evening. Students were encouraged
to go home and bring their parents back for that presentation.
There were many parents and community members there. Many
of these participants also accepted the challenge and signed the
banner as well.
I encourage anyone who doesn‟t know about Rachel‟s
Challenge to visit www.rachelschallenge.org and find out more
about it. Help us encourage your students to make the commitment
to help start a chain reaction of kindness.
Presenter Cody Hodges
Before joining the team at Rachel's Challenge, Cody played professional football.
Cody loves sharing Rachel's message and being a part of starting a chain
reaction across America! He graduated from Texas Tech University where he was
the starting quarterback. In 2005, he led the nation in passing and had the fourth
best single-game performance in NCAA Division I-A history. Cody spent part of
the 2006 season with the Tennessee Titans. He delivers Rachel's story with compassion
and intensity to encourage students to achieve their highest potential.
T HE TI GE R TIM ES