OWINGSVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — April 20, 2024, will mark 25 years since the Columbine school shooting that took 13 lives. The legacy of one of those lives continues to live on in schools.
As of 2024, the Washington Post has tracked 394 school shootings since Columbine. Educators at Bath County High School remember the day.
Principal Sabrina Brandenburg says, "I remember thinking what impact that was gonna have on education. And I didn't fully understand what it would have until of course I became a teacher."
The district’s GEAR Up program manager, Sheila Armstrong, says, "Remembering and imagining, as my child and children grow and you know are in school districts what danger they could be in."
None of the school’s students are old enough to remember or even know about the Columbine shooting. But now that they're learning about it, they understand the importance of preventing it from happening again.
Freshman Eli Roloson says, "I've never even heard of Rachel even until today but... Wow what and impact it left you know?"
Bath County students are filling the school’s auditorium to learn about that day and one of its 13 victims, Rachel Joy Scott.
National speaker for Rachel’s Challenge, Meichelle Gibson, says, "In 50 minutes it is amazing to see the life transformation that happens with students."
Scott is known for saying, "People will never know how far a little kindness can go." Gibson has been to thousands of schools speaking for Rachel’s Challenge.
She says, "It really spun out of Darrell Scott, Rachel’s dad, being asked to come and to speak several places and from there it just bloomed."
The challenge focuses on five things that Scott’s family says she embodied: looking for the best in others, dreaming big, being a positive influence, speaking kindness, and starting a chain reaction.
Gibson says, "we ask them to make this commitment to tell the people they love that they love them. It is incredible to see one, how many hands go up, and two how many students come up to you afterwards to talk about what it meant for them and what they're getting ready to do."
Another freshman, Levi Patton, says, "Carry that hopeful mentality. Always take everything with a grain of salt."
Kids committed to the challenge.
"Try to put yourself in other people's shoes and see how they feel,” says Sierra Wells, a junior.
They signed their names on a banner as a pledge.
Junior Ali Easton says, "I think it's really important for just everybody to be as kind as you can to others because you never know what anyone is going through."
This school believes this challenge and looking back at the past can help change the future and prevent more shootings.
