Rachel Scott
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Rachel Joy Scott (August 5, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre. She has since been the subject of several books.
Scott lived near Littleton, Colorado, where she attended Columbine High School along with her younger brother, Craig.
She played the lead in a student-written school play. She was also active in Orchard Road Christian Center church. She was "made for the camera," according to her father, and was an aspiring writer and actress. "There's nothing I can add or take away from what she gave us," her mom said. "In those short 17 years, it was complete." She had just performed in Columbine's Smoke in the Room and was writing a play for her senior year.
Rachel was shot in front of the school cafeteria while she was eating lunch on the grass with friend Richard Castaldo. She died from gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm and leg. Her car was turned into a memorial in the parking lot of the school.
In the aftermath of the massacre, it has been claimed that the gunmen, after having shot her in the leg while she was eating lunch, just outside the school, but before killing her with a point-blank shot to the temple, asked Scott if she believed in God, and that she had answered "You know I do." This question was also famously attributed to deceased victim Cassie Bernall.
An official investigation into the shootings, published eight months after the event, substantiated the claim that another student, Valeen Schnurr, had been asked that question and responded 'no' then 'yes', looking for the "right" answer. She who had also been shot previously in the library, was not shot again and survived her injuries.
Scott's parents authored a book entitled Rachel's Tears: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott (ISBN 0-7852-6848-0). The martyr sobriquet has stuck, especially amongst devout Christians in the Bible Belt, and the reports remain in wide circulation. The same story attributed to Cassie Bernall was also the subject a similar book She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall (ISBN 0-7434-0052-6).
Rachel's Tears is presented as a Christian meditation on the life, death, and faith of Rachel as seen through the eyes of her parents and through writings and drawings from her journals. The book also attempts a spiritual point of view on the Columbine tragedy and a vision for preventing youth violence.
Following her death, Scott's father Darrell, a devout Christian and son of a pastor, co-authored three books about her spirituality. He also resigned his job as a salesman and set up the Rachel's Challenge, a non-profit organization whose mission is to "motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people." As part of this work he tours the United States speaking at churches, high schools and youth centers. Scott's mother participates in similar programs.
[edit] External links
- RachelScott.com - Set up by Darrell Scott
- Columbine Redemption
- RachelJoyScott.com
- School-prayer.org
- rachelschallenge.com
- RachelScott.com - Darrell's Testimony to the House of Representatives
- The Biggest question of all by Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writers, December 14, 1999.
[edit] Books published by Rachel's parents
- The Journals of Rachel Joy Scott: A Journey of Faith at Columbine High, Beth Nimmo, 2001, ISBN 0-8499-7594-8
- Rachel's Tears: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, Beth Nimmo, Darrell Scott, Steve Rabey with Scott Rabey, 2000, ISBN 0-7852-6848-0.
- Rachel Smiles : The Spiritual Legacy of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, Darrell Scott, 2002, ISBN 0-7852-6472-8
- Chain Reaction A Call To Compassionate Revolution Darrell Scott, Steve Rabey, 2001, ISBN 0-7852-6680-1
