Music To Our Ears

There’s no other effective way to influence the lives of students than with music.  It’s the backdrop for their lives.  They listen in the car, listen while doing homework, listen while at school AND, every song has a message.  Some songs encourage, some challenge, some tell a very personal story and some chronicle the culture.  But every song becomes part of the listener.  That’s why we say we have our favorites.  Certain songs just speak to us in a way that is meaningful because of individual backgrounds, experiences and preferences.

When we started RC Music, the goal was to use music as another way to encourage people to live a life of kindness and compassion.  Maybe hearing one of our songs every couple of days would be a reminder of Rachel’s challenges to be kind, dream big and not give up no matter what your situation. That’s why there are songs in different styles and genres.  Maybe there would be one that “sticks” because you like the sound, singer, or the message.

As time goes on there will be more songs added to the RC Music collection.  Every artist has a story as to why their song was important for them to write or perform. They all hope that their song will inspire someone else to add to the chain reaction Rachel dreamed of.

To see if you connect with any of the songs.  Check out RC Music at www.rachelschallenge.org/RCMusic

-Paul

The Messenger

Five short years ago I started at Rachel’s Challenge; there were 3 of us in the office and about 7 speakers.  Now there are 16 in the office and over 35 trained speakers.  Many things have changed but one thing has remained the same:  the impact Rachel’s story has on people.  I work in the office on a daily basis but I do get the opportunity to present the program at schools multiple times a year.  I am not sure if I will ever forget the first time…

I was very nervous because I wanted to make sure the story sounded natural and unrehearsed.  I spent weeks preparing for that day and I felt the pressure once I arrived that morning at the school.  My heart was pounding as students flooded into the gym.  I noticed many of them sizing me up; they must have been thinking, “Who is this guy and how is he going to bore me today?”

Shortly thereafter I opened up the program and the words flowed.  I became more comfortable as the hour passed but I still wasn’t sure if they were “getting it.”  I completed the program and students headed for the exits with a few staying behind to thank me for coming.  As I was talking to one young lady I was still feeling a little insecure…”Did they get it?”  Out of the corner of my eye I saw another girl make a b-line through the crowd directly to me.  I could see that she had tears in her eyes as she approached.  Finally she was right in front of me and I expected her to say something.  Instead she wrapped her arms around me and held on for about 15 seconds.  When she released she moved on without saying a word. 

Instantly I knew that the message was received loud and clear and the stress drifted away.  If nothing else was done that day I knew this one young lady heard something that changed her.  I knew it was not about me…I was just the messenger.

-Andrew

“My Mom Thinks I’m Special!”

During the FOR training, presenters ask the students how the presentation impacted them. I’ve heard all kinds of answers that range from, “I want to be like Rachel” to “I need help, my step-father beats me.” We call these personal moments, “shares”. One share from a particular high schooler has stuck with me, not necessarily because of what he said, but because of what he didn’t say and what the other students in the room did about it.

This particular training had a large number of kids who you’d classify as the “popular” crowd - football players in their jerseys and cheerleaders. This brave young man stood up in front of all of them and from the moment he took the microphone he was very emotional. He spent a few seconds trying to reign in his feelings until finally, without saying anything, he gave up. He tried to hand the microphone back to me. I thought to myself, “should I push him?” I didn’t want to upset him further, but I also wanted to encourage him to open up and receive what he was hoping to achieve by sharing. I gently encouraged him to share and told him that he could do it. He just stood there and wept. After a few moments he gathered enough composure to say something like, “I’ve been bullied a lot…” and then he wept again.

The room was silent. He tried to hand the microphone back to me and I just kept telling him he could do it. Then, through his sobs this sensitive young man said, “but my Mom thinks I’m special.”

The word for what I felt was: panic. I was so worried that the ‘cool’ kids were going to eat him alive and that this moment I had coerced out of him would become fodder for ridicule and gossip. There was nothing wrong with what he said, but I was concerned that the teenagers would be judgmental of him anyway. What happened next, however, surprised me. 
 
After a few moments of terrible silence: applause erupted. All of the other students stood up and clapped for him - for his bravery - as a show of support to a peer who was in pain. Perhaps even as an apology for any part they may have played in causing that pain. Burly guys in football jerseys lined up to give him a hug. My panic was replaced with gratitude, and tears of joy at this display of compassion.

As a Rachel’s Challenge presenter I have learned that the capacity of America’s youth to have forgiveness, compassion and kindness is extraordinary. Since my moment of panic I have learned to put more faith in our youth and in the power of Rachel’s message.

-Kristi

Rachel’s Challenge Presenter

Breaking the Chain Reaction of Evil

As speakers for Rachel’s Challenge, some of the stories that we hear on the road are as difficult to hear as they are incredibly powerful. I regularly hear from students who come from broken homes, who have been in and out of the state system their entire short lives, who struggle with eating disorders, self-mutilation, and thoughts of suicide. These students consistently humble me, and remind me of just how incredibly lucky I am to be able to tell them about Rachel.  However, not all the stories I hear are about pain.  Many of them are about strength, about holding on, about incredible resilience and triumph.  I’d like to tell you one of these stories.

During what I like to call ‘open mic time,’ a student came forward to share.  He spoke about enduring awful teasing throughout middle school because he wasn’t very social.  He told the crowd that he had a mild form of autism, and that being around people was very difficult.  Life only got better in high school, he said, because rather than torment him his peers simply ignored him. He handed the mic back to me and walked toward his seat.  The senior class president came forward, stopped this young man from taking his seat, and led him back toward the front.  Then, he began to weep.  He told a crowd of 100 peers who thought he had it all together, who thought he had the perfect life, that he was responsible for much of the teasing the first young man spoke about. He confessed that he treated that first young man horribly in the 8^th grade, and apologized.  The two boys hugged while the whole room broke into tears and applause.

We talk about breaking a chain reaction of evil by starting a chain reaction of kindness.  I got to watch two boys break a chain reaction of evil with open, honest communication that led to forgiveness and understanding.  For Rachel’s Challenge presenters, that’s what it’s all about.  All we do is tell a story about a girl who saved lives with simple acts of kindness. Students do the rest.  Students take the story and change their lives and their schools.  The story is working.

-Daryn

Rachel’s Challenge Presenter

JAMODI (Just A Matter Of Doing It)

Rachel’s Challenge is one of the most powerful tools I have run across as an educator who is determined to make school more than an academic producer.  We have accepted the challenge to bring kindness to our part of the world that I believe will make students more productive in society and genuinely nicer people who care for those around them.  We have several stories to tell that we would hope to demonstrate what this program is about in our little piece of the world and the difference it makes.

Our Friends of Rachel Community has developed a plan that touches our community and our school when adversity comes.  It is our belief that reaching out in times of adversity or hardship is when kindness is most needed.  It also lends itself to the creation of seeing a need for kindness all around us in the normalcy of routine.  If we can do the “emotional” things well; how easy will that make it for us to see the needs that are small?  The reward is the same whether we give a $1,000 dollars to a cause or just being there for someone who is hurting.  The hurting can be from the loss of a loved one, a pet, or all the way down to just having a bad day.  Mending the hurt is fulfilling and a piece of this thing we call Rachel’s Challenge.

To make the above scene a reality we embark on the bigger things for motivation.  One such event was our Project Ingrid.  Ingrid is a bus driver in our school and has breast cancer.  She has had a double mastectomy and she is without insurance.  Our school through a fundraiser we do for such occasions is paying a $1 to wear jeans on a day we normally can’t wear jeans.  We advertise in the community and garner support that way as well.  We raised $1800 in one school day for Ingrid and made a difference in her life.  She is now one of our most avid Friends of Rachel supporters and joins in our causes.  

Texas JAMODI Principal,

Virdie

We’re Blogging!

The Rachel’s Challenge Presenter team is comprised of the most dedicated road-warriors around.  These men and women come from various backgrounds and professional experiences.  They leave their family members, friends and comforts of home for most of the year to bring the story of Rachel Scott to the youth and adults of our nation and world.  This growing team of individuals take on this demanding role of program presenter, training for weeks and traveling tirelessly, motivated by the honor and possibility to bring hope, to reach just one person with a message of kindness and compassion.  These are their stories, enjoy!  - Sarah, Program Delivery Manager

One of our program presenters wrote this about a school he visited recently, he said “The evening event had a small group, but a young man touched my heart in way that I will never forget.  It was a boy who had been identified as a bully and the principal mentioned that he has had some rough family events.  He showed up at the community event tonight with about 10 min left and he did not have any family with him.  It was raining outside and he was soaked.  He quietly walked in and sat down, but by the end of the presentation, he was by himself crying.  A teacher asked him where his parents were and he said “they didn’t want to come so I walked here”.  I don’t know why, but I started crying and I can’t stop crying, it was just the way that he said it, like there was no other choice but to plug into what was going on….all I can feel is his bravery and courage tonight, it was amazing.”