Students in the Mars Area School District have been practicing kindness under Rachel’s Challenge since the school year began, and some community members want that kindness to spread to the adults as well.

The school district will present two evening presentations on Rachel’s Challenge that are being sponsored by a local business and promoted by residents.

The presentations will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28, and Thursday, Feb. 7, in the Mars High School auditorium. They are open to anyone in the community over age 12. Free child care will be available for younger children.

Rachel’s Challenge is an international program founded by the family of Rachel Joy Scott, who was 17 when she was killed in the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999.

After Rachel died, her family heard from many other students who had been helped by her kindness.

“It was incredibly powerful about how she lived her life and chose to be kind,” said parent Jennifer Rath. “She chose the kids who were being bullied and on the fringe of society and made the effort to have lunch with them and that is not what most people do,” 

Although a presentation for parents was held in the fall, it was not well-attended, she added.

“I really wanted to expand the program to the community,” she said, citing bomb threats in the school district, the Tree of Life shooting in Squirrel Hill and “the election and seeing all these adults kind of screaming and yelling at each other.”

She said a parent group on Facebook also has seen name-calling aimed toward district officials and board members.

“We would never tolerate our children doing this. We need to do better. I felt like we needed to step it up as adults,” she said. “As adults, we really are the role models for these kids.”

Ms. Rath started a GoFundMe page to bring the presentations — which cost $1,800 per night — to Mars Area. Tim Cashdollar of Cashdollar and Associates, a district parent, offered to fund the presentations.

A child psychologist, Ms. Rath said she has seen studies that show programs like Rachel’s Challenge help reduce drug and alcohol abuse in students. She would like to see all 1,300 seats in the auditorium filled both nights.

Officials in Mars, Middlesex and Adams also are involved in promoting the program, and students in the Friends of Rachel clubs in the schools are offering input.

District officials have been urging residents to attend the presentations.

“It is an hour and a half of time, but it is an hour and a half that you will never forget,” school board president J. Dayle Ferguson said during the Jan. 8 school board meeting.

Sandy Trozzo, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.

First Published: January 22, 2019, 4:03 p.m.