Rachel Scott

Rachel Joy Scott (5 August 1981 – 20 April 1999) was an American student and writer who was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, in which eleven other students and a teacher were also murdered before both perpetrators committed suicide. She was posthumously the subject and co-writer of several books and the inspiration for Rachel's Challenge, an international school outreach program and the most popular school assembly program in the U.S. Its aim is to advocate Scott's values, based on her life, her journals, and the contents of a two-page essay, penned a month before her murder, entitled My Ethics; My Codes of Life. The essay advocates her belief in compassion being "the greatest form of love humans have to offer."

Quotes

 * These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will someday touch millions of people's hearts.
 * As quoted in Rachel's Challenge: A Columbine Legacy (2006), by Jeff Keuss and ‎Lia Sloth, p. 40


 * Rachel Scott, good to meet you, friend.
 * As quoted in "Remembering Columbine victim Rachel Scott" (17 April 2009), Today, NBC


 * It's like I have a heavy heart and this burden upon my back...but I don't know what ti is. There is something in me that makes me want to cry...and I don't even know what it is. Things have definitely changed. Last week was so hard...besides missing Breakthru...I lost all of my friends at school. Now that I have begun to "walk my talk," they make fun of me. I don't even know what I have done. I don't really have to say anything, and they turn me away. I was talking to [REDACTED] and I realized so much. I know what they're thinking every time I make a decision to resist temptation and follow God. They talk behind my back and call me "the preacher's church-going girl." Now [REDACTED] loves to drink. I used to drink with her some, but since I've stopped she thinks that I am such a loser, and that God is just a phase for me. I have no more personal friends at school. But you know what? I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus, I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put me into. If I have to sacrifice everything... I will. I will take it. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that’s fine with me. I always knew that being a Christian is having enemies, but I never thought that my "friends" were going to be those enemies. It's all good, I'm just a loner now at school. I just wish that someone from Breakthru went to my school.
 * "Dear Sam" (20 April 1998), as quoted in The Strangeness of Columbine: An Interpretation, by Lear's Shadow, pp. 51–52, Rachel's Tears: 10th Anniversary Edition: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine (2008), by Beth Nimmo, Darrell Scott, and Steve Rabey, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, book cover, and "I am not going to hide the light,’ slain Columbine student vo" (10 May 1999), by Ken Walker, Baptist Press


 * Faith brings peace. Faith brings joy.
 * "Desperate Measures" (25 April 1998), as quoted in Rachel's Tears: 10th Anniversary Edition: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine (2008), by Beth Nimmo, Darrell Scott, and Steve Rabey, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, p. 127


 * It's hard to be desperate, when you are dead.
 * "Desperate Measures" (25 April 1998), as quoted in Rachel's Tears: 10th Anniversary Edition: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine (2008), by Beth Nimmo, Darrell Scott, and Steve Rabey, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, p. 127


 * If you had to make a list of the top 5 things most important to you, what would you put? Here's mine 1. God 2. Family 3. friends 4. my future 5. myself.
 * "May 4, 98" (4 May 1998)


 * There is a God and I'm going to serve him for the rest of my life.
 * Letter to Mark Bodiford (1998)


 * I can see him. I know that God is real. I know it in my heart. You can only believe in what you know to be true. You know your own truth. I know mine. Everyone should be able to find that within themselves.
 * As quoted in No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death at Columbine (2002), by Brooks Brown and Rob Merritt, New York: Lantern Books, p. 149


 * It's not about that for me. I'm not trying to go out there and convert people. I just want to be an example. I want to live my life for God, and let other people take from that whatever they want.
 * As quoted in No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death at Columbine (2002), by Brooks Brown and Rob Merritt, New York: Lantern Books, p. 150


 * I am sure that my codes of life may be very different from yours, but how do you know that trust, compassion, and beauty will not make this world a better place to be in and this life a better one to live? My codes may seem like a fantasy that can never be reached, but test them for yourself, and see the kind of effect they have in the lives of people around you. You just may start a chain reaction.
 * My Ethics, My Codes of Life (1999)


 * Adam, we’re going to have lunch together next week, just you and I, and nobody else. And I want you to tell me all about your family... Adam, I just want to be your friend.
 * To her friend Adam Kyler (20 April 1999), as quoted in Chain Reaction: A Call to Compassionate Revolution (2001), by Darrell Scott and ‎Steve Rabey, p. 80


 * Mrs. Carruthers, I'm going to be an impact on this world.
 * To her teacher Sue Carruthers (20 April 1999), as quoted in "One victim's legacy lives on" (15 August 2006), by John McReynolds, Lompoc Record