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Page 1 of 7 SITE HELP • SITE MAP The Janesville Gazette WCLO WJVL Walworth County Today Login or Register Thursday, September 8, 2011 • JANESVILLE, WI • NEWS ◦ Local ◦ State ◦ National/World ◦ Crime ◦ Public Record ◦ Money ◦ Special Sections ◦ Entertainment • WEATHER ◦ Traffic Camera • OPINION ◦ Columns ◦ Political Cartoons ◦ Polls • SPORTS ◦ Preps ◦ Jets ◦ Packers ◦ Badgers ◦ Brewers ◦ Bucks ◦ Golf ◦ Motorsports ◦ National ◦ Other • MULTIMEDIA ◦ Photos ◦ Photo Galleries http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/opinion-matters/2011/sep/08/a-powerful-message-about-bull... 9/8/2011 Page 2 of 7 ◦ Podcast ◦ Videos ◦ Slide Shows ◦ Maps • COMMUNITY ◦ Births ◦ Couples ◦ Obituaries ◦ Death Notices ◦ Celebration Forms • BLOGS ◦ Blog List ◦ Latest Blog Entries • • • • • CLASS JOBS AUTO HOMES Search GazetteXtra: GO Blogs » Opinion Matters RSS A powerful message about bullying By GREG PECK ( Contact ) Thursday, September 8, 2011 - 12:11 p.m. EMAIL RSS SHARE I remember those days growing up in the Dane County village of Marshall and how some of my grade school classmates picked on one girl mercilessly. Remarkably, she overcame that bullying and has joined her fellow graduates to celebrate and mark our class reunions. I think of those days when I read stories about bullying and people such as Rachel Scott who aspire to stop it. She was the first student gunned down in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/opinion-matters/2011/sep/08/a-powerful-message-about-bull... 9/8/2011 Page 3 of 7 Her passion has spurred family members and friends to give presentations at thousands of schools nationwide to spread Rachel’s story and message of tolerance. She had been keeping a journal with a simple but ambitious plan—to improve the world through a chain reaction of kindness and compassion. Ironically, one of the bullets fired at Rachel penetrated her journal, reporter Neil Johnson explains in today’s Gazette. On Wednesday, Dave Gamache presented "Rachel’s Challenge" to Milton High School students. I was left hopeful by the words of Milton guidance counselor Michelle Kurilla, who was “stunned” by the response of students Wednesday. She said the presentation seemed to leave them spellbound. “I’ve never been in an assembly where the students have sat still and sat completely quiet that long,” she told Johnson. A large picture on the front page shows Gamache raising his hand to ask which students will accept Rachel’s Challenge. The five-step challenge? 1. Look for the best in others. 2. Dream big. 3. Choose positive influences. 4. Speak with kindness. 5. Start your own chain reaction. Those steps seem so simple, so easy. Yet they can have a profound effect on those around us. So can bullying. I hope we can follow up and again interview Kurilla a month or two from now to see if she senses that students are carrying out Rachel’s Challenge. And starting this new school year, I hope students reading this, even those who didn’t get a chance to hear Gamache’s talk, will consider and heed Rachel’s Challenge. Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or [email protected]. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook reader COMMENTS No reader comments yet posted (0) Before you post a comment, consider this: Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy Agreement • Keep it clean. Comments that are obscene, vulgar or sexually oriented will be removed. Creative spelling of such terms or implied use of such language is banned, also. • Don't threaten to hurt or kill anyone. • Be nice. No racism, sexism or any other sort of -ism that degrades another person. http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/opinion-matters/2011/sep/08/a-powerful-message-about-bull... 9/8/2011 Page 4 of 7 • Harassing comments. 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