Rachel's Challenge

1700 students, aged 14-18, were held captive today by Rachel Scott, the first girl killed at Columbine 13 years ago, which, incidentally, was my first year teaching.  I remember that day, the tension of my first year teaching--a tension so deep it dropped me from a size 10 to a size 2--reflected in the terror of those images flashed time and again on the television.  I remember questioning what in the hell I had decided to get into when kids were substituting their books for automatic weapons.  I didn't know how to approach the reality of public education when kids didn't willing stand on their desks for captains who inspired them.  Dead Poets Society came out my senior year in high school, and I would have stood on my desk for any of my teachers: they were my heroes and role models.   I became a teacher to inspire others as they had inspired me.  Columbine was the tectonic plate that irrevocably shifted my reality.

As I think back to my first year teaching, I realize that the seeds I am reaping now were planted by the honors seniors I inherited from a veteran teacher.  Those students, the few who kept me in teaching, taught me about joy in the classroom.  They showed me the gift a teacher is given when his or her students meet them halfway.  They taught me that when a teacher allows her passion to show, her students will forgive a multitude of mistakes only a first year teacher can make because they believe in her potential.

Rachel's Challenge encourages a chain reactions of kindness.  Oddly enough, Columbine helped inspire my passion and helped keep me in the classroom.  Today, I was once again reminded that sometimes, sometimes, the best of humanity walks the hallways of our high schools.