Friends of Rachel
| Rachel Scott | |
|---|---|
Scott in 1997
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| Born |
Rachel Joy Scott August 5, 1981 Denver, Colorado |
| Died | April 20, 1999 (aged 17) Littleton, Colorado |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds to the head and torso |
| Resting place | Columbine Memorial Gardens at Chapel Hill Cemetery, Littleton, Colorado, United States 39°35′56.00″N 104°56′43.01″W / 39.5988889°N 104.9452806°WCoordinates: 39°35′56.00″N 104°56′43.01″W / 39.5988889°N 104.9452806°W |
| Occupation | Student |
| Website | |
Rachel Joy Scott (August 5, 1981–April 20, 1999) was an American student and the first murder victim of the Columbine High School massacre, in which 11 other students and a teacher were also murdered before both perpetrators committed suicide.
She has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel's Challenge, an international school outreach program and the most popular school assembly program in America. Its aim is to advocate Scott's belief, based on her life, her journals, and the contents of a two-page essay penned just a month before her murder entitled My Ethics; My Codes of Life which advocates her belief in compassion being "the greatest form of love humans have to offer".
Owing to the fact both Scott and Anne Frank died at a young age through the hatred of others, and that both girls had written of their wishes to change the world for the better through the simple acts of love and kindness, parallels have been drawn by her uncle, among others, between the journals she wrote in her short lifespan and Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl.
Rachel Joy Scott was born on August 5, 1981, in Denver, Colorado. She was the third of five children born to Darrell Scott (b. 1949) and Beth Nimmo (b. 1953). Her older sisters are Bethanee (b. 1975) and Dana (b. 1976), and her two younger brothers are Craig (b. 1983) and Mike (b. 1984). Scott's entire family are devout Christians. Her father, Darrell, was a pastor at a church in Lakewood, Colorado, and worked as a sales manager for a Denver-based food company; her mother, Beth, was a homemaker. Rachel's parents divorced in 1988, but maintained a cordial relationship, and held joint custody of their children. The following year, Beth and her children relocated to Littleton, Colorado, where she remarried in 1995.
As a child, Scott was an energetic, sociable girl, who displayed concern for the well-being of others—particularly if they were downcast or otherwise in need. She also developed a passion for photography and poetry at an early age. Rachel attended Dutch Creek Elementary School, and then Ken Caryl Middle School, before enrolling in Columbine High School in her ninth-grade year. At Columbine, she was an attentive, above-average student who displayed a flair for music, acting, drama, and debate. She was a member of the school's forensics and drama clubs, although initially, acting did not come easily to her, and she had to devote extra effort to succeed in this activity.
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