October 22, 2009 - Students, faculty and staff at Boght Hills, Forts Ferry, Latham Ridge, Maplewood and Southgate Elementary Schools will soon be challenged to live up to the optimistic principles of the first person killed during the 1999 Columbine High School tragedy.

Rachel Joy Scott believed that if she were honest, compassionate and looked for the best and beautiful in everyone, she could start a chain reaction that would make the world a better place. Rachel's parents were determined not to allow their daughter's tragic death to silence her optimism, so they created Rachel's Challenge, a program that inspires students and others to implement positive changes at school and in the community. The program is based upon Rachel's acts of kindness and compassion and her strong principles, which she outlined in her six diaries.

Rachel's Challenge is being brought to the elementary schools as part of the school's Character Education program. The program was originally launched at Shaker High School last year and continues to be a great success. The goal is to promote a culture of respect, kindness and compassion that will influence the school community on a daily basis. This year, students, faculty and staff will reward other students for acts of kindness by dedicating a paper chain ring with their name and the act they performed on it. At the end of the year, each school will connect the chains to form one giant chain of kindness.

“The goal at the end of the year will be a school wide event celebrating all the acts of kindness and compassion and joining all the chains together creating a ‘Chain Reaction of Kindness and Compassion’,” Southgate Elementary Principal, Ms. Jerri Lynne Dedrick said. “It is our hope that this will spark a change in how students treat each other as they prepare for middle school, high school and life.”

Besides Rachel’s Challenge, North Colonie Schools also have other strong Character Education programs that aim to inspire students and implement positive change. Loudonville Elementary School has a service orientated club called G.I.R.A.F.F.E.S. (Get Involved Respond and Act For Friends Even Strangers) that works to promote positive peer relationships through activities, such as Mix it Up day at Lunch. This is a day where students are randomly assigned to sit with students they would not normally mingle with at lunch.

Photos: (Top) All Southgate Elementary students signed the Rachel's Challenge banner, signifying their acceptance of the challenge. (Bottom) Maplewood Elementary students look on as they are about to watch the Rachel's Challenge video.
 

Last school year, Blue Creek Elementary School was recognized as 2009 Champion Educators of Character by the Academy of Character Education at The Sage Colleges in Albany. This was the second year in a row that Blue Creek received the award, and a good deal of the credit goes to Kathy Berger, a third-grade teacher at Blue Creek. Berger began conducting character education programs long before it was mandated by New York State and long before it was even called character education. During her 21 years at Blue Creek, she helped develop a myriad of character education initiatives, such as the School Success Team, the PeaceAble School program and others.

On October 29, Shaker Junior High School will host three assemblies featuring motivational speaker Michael Pritchard. Pritchard is a nationally acclaimed keynote speaker praised by the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Time for his ability to use humor to inspire and educate his audiences on communication skills. The Junior High School also unveiled 30 character traits that are assigned to departments to highlight during a specific week. Over the course of the school year, all 30 traits will be highlighted with students. Last May, Shaker Junior High School administered a bullying survey to students. The Building Council will be analyzing the results of the survey and will make decisions about programs and approaches to address respect and bullying.