Rachel's Life

Rachel Joy Scott was born on August 5, 1981 to Darrell Scott and Beth Nimmo, who later divorced. She was one of five children. She had two older sisters, Bethanee and Dana, and two younger brothers, Craig and Mike. Craig was in the library the day of the shooting, which took the lives of twelve students and one teacher.

She is the subject of many books and is the inspiration for Rachel's Challenge, a program for the prevention of teen violence, based on her life and writings. My school had the honor of being part of the program, and now has a a new club called "Chain Links" that promotes our school to be a better place. Her father was previously a pastor in a church, until her parents were divorced. Beth then moved with the children to Littleton, Colorado, where she was remarried to Rachel's step-dad, Larry. Darrell became a sales manager at a food company near Denver, and had joint custody of Rachel and her siblings. When she was younger, Rachel attended Governor's Ranch Elementary School, and then Ken Caryl Middle School. Rachel had known Dylan since kindergarten, but did not know he would be the one to end her precious life.

Rachel was an aspiring writer and actress, and had just finished a school play, Smoke in the Room, in which she played the lead. she was active in her church youth group, Breakthrough. She was known to be friendly and caring to others, and reached out to people often. She loved God, and hoped to one day change the world by little acts of kindness. She sure has changed my world, and many others. Chuck Norris dedicated his autobiography to Rachel, and wrote the foreword for Rachel's Tears.

She left behind six diaries talking about her life, her love of God, and how she wanted to change the world. She drew many pictures in her diaries. If you would like to read some of her diary entries and see some of her drawings, I strongly suggest you read the book Rachel's Tears. Many of her writings and drawings are featured in the book.

Rachel had a feeling she was going to die young, and even wrote in her journal less than a year before she died "This will be my last year Lord. I have gotten what I can. Thank you." Also, on the day of Columbine she drew the picture of the rose, which depicted eyes crying thirteen tears (the number of people who died that day) onto a rose (the new generation of hope that will arise from the tragedy).

Many of Rachel's quotes are known widely, including the quotes "I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same" and "I won't be labeled as average."

Rachel lived her short seventeen years on this planet to the fullest, and is now in a new place, where the worries and hatred that consume this world no longer exist.