On Monday, Nov. 10, Bel Air High School took the first steps in starting a chain reaction of kindness. After a moving assembly from Rachel’s Challenge select students went to a separate training to learn how to continue Rachel’s legacy in Bel Air. CORE Club is Bel Air High School’s version of the Friends of Rachel Club, working to spread kindness throughout our school.

The training started off with the students sharing how the assembly had effected them. Peter DeAnello, the speaker from the assembly, explained how sharing struggles and successes is how each CORE meeting should start. By being able to share their own struggles with the group in a safe environment allows them to be able to work with others in bullying situations.

DeAnello went through strategies to help stop an immediate bullying situations. DeAnello stressed that when getting involved with a bully one must never target the bully. If you know the bully, politely interrupt the confrontation with casual conversation and getting them away from the conflict. The same goes for if you know the person being bullied. The smartest bet to help solve a conflict is to get a teacher, but the main goal is to get each person out of the situation. Respect is key, not only to the victim but to the bully as well.

The success of Rachel’s Challenge is very apparent. DeAnello got involved with Rachel’s Challenge when he saw the success for himself. He learned that they had stopped over 500 suicides in their first few years of being in action.

“What I loved seeing today was so many students got involved. You could hear a pin drop throughout the whole presentation. Everyone was paying attentive, everybody was respectful,” DeAnello said of BAHS students.

The immediate effects of Rachel’s Challenge was seen during the training. There were many people who participated in the exercises and activities that maybe would not have before that day. Working in groups the students came up with ideas of how to spread kindness through our school on a more daily basis. Some ideas were, starting a kindness quote of the day on The Cat’s Eye, starting a Students of Bel Air page (similar to the popular photo series Humans of New York which showcases ordinary people with interesting stories on the streets of New York), as well as many others.

“Remind the students of what the students signed up for on that banner. Be visual about what you are doing out there (in your school). Acts of kindness, put Rachel’s quotes up, let people remember what Rachel stood for. Rachel was an ordinary student that just decided every day to make a little bit of a difference in people’s lives in a positive way. And if people could just try to emulate that… it becomes like any habit,” stated DeAnello.

CORE Club is available to any student who wishes to join, not only the students selected to go to the training. Bobcat Nation must work together to keep this program going.

Rachel Joy Scott said, “I won’t be labeled as average.”

Let’s not be average Bobcats.