Rachel Scott

The circumstances surrounding Scott's death and its relation to her religious beliefs are disputed in the martyr narrative. Journalist Wendy Murray Zoba argued that the shooters targeted evangelical Christians during the massacre. As evidence for this, she claimed that Scott was shot execution-style, though the official report published by police stated that Scott was shot from a distance of 10 to 15 feet. Scott's mother claimed that she had offered to be friends to Klebold, that Klebold was romantically interested in her, and that Klebold and Harris mocked her for her religious beliefs. Scott's mother also asserted that her daughter was on a "target list." Investigations in the years following the shooting—especially Dave Cullen's findings in his book Columbine—have concluded that Klebold and Harris were not targeting people for their religion, ethnicity, or gender. Scott did not know the two boys personally and was in a different academic grade than them. A frequent feature of Rachel's "martyr story" is that she had a verbal exchange with Klebold and Harris about her religious beliefs before they killed her. Costaldo, who was shot while sitting with Scott and survived, told a newspaper that Klebold and Harris berated Scott for believing in God before shooting her. Costaldo also said that when he told Klebold and Harris he did not believe in God—after they had asked him—they decided not to kill him. Costaldo was in a coma in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and thus did not testify to police and his account was not included in the police report on the event. Conversely, Larkin wrote in 2007 that Costaldo "could not remember Klebold or Harris saying anything."

Darrell Scott has stated that reliving his daughter's death giving his Rachel's Challenge speeches is painful, but that he and his family consider the opportunity to be a worthwhile experience as they can turn a tragedy into triumph. He notes: "I feel that God has really called me to do this. To pick up the torch my daughter dropped. This is what my daughter would have wanted to see. If I died right now, I can tell you my daughter's prayer has been answered." Rachel's mother would herself recollect on the 10th anniversary of her daughter's passing: "Only through eternal eyes will she ever know how powerful her life and death became."

Along with 29 other recipients, Scott was formally honored as part of the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game ceremonies, held in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 14 that year. At this ceremony, Darrell Scott stated: "Rachel loved to watch baseball. She had no clue that because of her memory ... I'd be here representing her." Both of Scott's parents have also spoken with entertainers, world leaders, and notable individuals including Miep Gies – one of the people who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis, and preserved her diary after her capture.

In the wake of the 2006 West Nickel Mines School shooting, Craig Scott was formally invited to address a National Council on issues relating to safety and security in schools. This meeting was held at the White House with President George W. Bush and included White House staff and educators from across the nation. The conference focused on cultural issues and the accomplishments and personal experiences garnered through Rachel's Challenge. President Bush requested a copy of the speech, and Craig Scott was later invited back to the White House to speak further on these issues.

In a direct recognition of the significant, ongoing, national benefits achieved in schools, colleges, and universities through Rachel's Challenge, the National Education Association of New York awarded Darrell Scott and Rachel's Challenge the "Friend of Education Award" in 2006. Darrell Scott was selected as the 2009 winner of the "All-Stars Among Us" initiative in recognition of his selfless dedication toward preserving his daughter's memory in a positive manner through Rachel's Challenge in the U.S.

Scott and Nimmo later published two more books inspired by their daughter and her legacy: Rachel Smiles: The Spiritual Legacy of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, and The Journals of Rachel Joy Scott: A Journey of Faith at Columbine High. These books were published in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Both parents have expressed their hope that those who did not know their daughter would find inspiration in the books' description of the principles their daughter had lived during her life.

After reading the essay, My Ethics; My Codes of Life, and the journals Scott had written in the last 16 months of her life, her father founded Rachel's Challenge in 2001. Rachel's Challenge is a national nonprofit and nonpolitical organization whose stated aims are to advocate a safe and positive climate and culture in schools in a campaign to quell school violence, bullying, discrimination, and both homicidal and suicidal thoughts in students. Through the more than 50 designated speakers and the international expansion of Rachel's Challenge, the annual international student outreach of the organization is estimated to be in excess of two million. The program itself typically involves a one-hour audio and video presentation, hosted by the Rachel's Challenge speaker, to assembled students, with the aim of motivating those present to analyze how they treat others. The Rachel's Challenge speakers include Darrell, Craig and Mike Scott; guest speakers include Nicole Nowlen, who was wounded at age 16 in the Columbine High School massacre, and Adam Kyler, a former Columbine student who had harbored suicidal thoughts until Rachel, noting he was the victim of bullying, offered her friendship and support.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation posthumously awarded Scott the 2001 National Kindness Award for Student of the Year. The award was in recognition of her efforts to eradicate negativity, discord, and alienation in those she encountered during her life and to replace these negative influences with care and compassion.

Scott was buried at the Chapel Hill Cemetery in Littleton on April 24, 1999, following a two-hour funeral service held at the Trinity Christian Center. Her funeral was one of the first services following the massacre and was attended by more than 1,000 people that included friends and staff at Columbine High School. The Reverend Porter began the service by addressing the congregation with the question, "What has happened to us as a people that this should happen to us?" He then addressed the solemn crowd with a speech that included references to Scott's pious character, kind nature and love of her fellow human, before stating: "You have graduated early from this life to a far better one, where there is no sorrow, violence or death." Her friends from the Orchard Road Christian Church Youth Group also sang a song at the service, composed in her honor, entitled "Why Did You Have to Leave?"

The deaths of Scott and fellow student Cassie Bernall—also a Christian—during the Columbine massacre led both to be subsequently depicted and remembered by groups of evangelical Christians as Christian martyrs. This began during her funeral on April 24, 1999, which was televised. At the beginning of the ceremony, Barry Palser, a pastor from an Assemblies of God organization, gave a speech in which he said she was "one who has given [her] life for the Lord Jesus Christ, a modern-day martyr." Pastor Bruce Porter delivered a sermon later in the service, in which he called Rachel a "warrior" who carried "a torch that was stained by the blood of the martyrs from the very first day of the Church's existence". Porter then requested that others pick up the "torch" in Scott's wake. In the following years numerous books—termed "hagiographies" by sociologist Ralph Larkin—were published about Scott and Bernall with the assistance of or authorship by their parents. Porter also wrote a book about Scott, making frequent references to sacrifice. Many web pages have been published that are specifically dedicated to Scott and she is prominently featured in more broadly-themed Columbine memorial websites. Some of these sites explicit or implicitly refer to Scott's belief in Christianity and suggest that she was killed because of it. Journalist Hanna Rosin framed public remembrance of her death as part of a phenomenon in which teenage Christians began obsessing over Christian-based death. Scott's mother and her brother Craig toured many schools across the United States years after the shooting to speak about Rachel's life, asserting that she probably died because of her religious beliefs. Christian churches used the martyr narrative of Scott's and Bernall's deaths to promote themselves and recruit members.

Scott was an aspiring writer and actress. In 1998, she performed a mime act to the song "Watch the Lamb" at the school talent show. The tape jammed halfway through the song and Dylan Klebold, who ran audio for the school theater production club, came to her rescue and fixed the tape, leading her to thank him afterwards. Rachel's sister would later perform the same mime act at her funeral.

When Scott was 11 in March 1993, she visited the church that her aunt and uncle attended in Shreveport, Louisiana, and chose to commit herself to Christianity. By April 1998, when she was at Columbine High School, five of her closest friends had distanced themselves from her because of her increasing commitment to her faith. Furthermore, because of her faith, she was occasionally subjected to mockery by several of her peers. Rachel documented this in a letter to a relative a year to the day before her death. The letter included the words: "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 even have to say anything, and they turn me away. I have no more personal friends at school. But you know what, it's all worth it."

Rachel Joy Scott (August 5, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was an American student and the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, in which 11 other students and a teacher were also murdered by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who then committed suicide.

Rachel Joy Scott was born on August 5, 1981, in Denver, Colorado. She was the third of five children born to Darrell Scott and Beth Nimmo. Scott's entire family are devout Christians. Her father was a pastor at a church in Lakewood, Colorado, and worked as a sales manager for a Denver-based food company; her mother was a homemaker. Rachel's parents divorced in 1988; they maintained a cordial relationship and held joint custody of the children. The following year, Beth and her children relocated to Littleton, Colorado, where she remarried in 1995.