Chief Moses students start a chain reaction

MOSES LAKE - Chief Moses Middle School students are flocking to a group challenging them to instigate a positive chain reaction in their school and community.

It's called "The Brave Challenge," formerly "Rachel's Challenge."

Rachel's Challenge, an organization that gives assemblies to schools across the country, visited Chief Moses last year, said sixth grade teacher Matthew Krogh.

The organization was inspired by Rachel Scott, one of the victims of the Columbine High School shooting, who filled several diaries with inspirational writing, including a widely-circulated quote that inspired the organization's catch phrase: "I have this theory that if one can go out of their way to show compassion, it will start a chain reaction of the same," she wrote.

The Rachel's Challenge assembly struck a chord with students, including seventh-grader Brianna Hansen.

"It was kind of inspirational, knowing that an ordinary girl like that could make such a difference in people's lives," she said.

Several students leapt at the opportunity to positively impact their school.

"I got involved because it helps spread kindness around our school," said eighth-grader Tim Bartlett.

"It feels really good to know that you're making a difference in someone's life," said Hansen. "I had a friend who, some people weren't very nice to her. I don't want that to happen to other people."

"When you do something for someone it doesn't just make them feel good, it makes yourself feel good, too," said sixth-grader Sydney Cooper. "I just want this school to be thought of as a positive place."

The kids don't just talk about making a difference. They work toward that goal throughout the school year by doing things like picking up trash around the school, helping school custodians take out trash, weeding around the exterior of the school, making signs with positive messages to post in the hallways and cleaning teachers' classrooms.

"It seems like the whole school has kind of bought into this idea," said Krogh.

The students even took their effort outside the school, playing music for residents at Columbia Crest Care and Rehabilitation Center.

The Rachel's Challenge assembly was itself a chain reaction, said Krogh.

"The thing that stuck out for me was how powerful words are, how one small act of kindness can make a difference," he said. "The more I talked about it, the more we started to see it in class. The more we started to see it in the hallway and the more other teachers were saying, ‘What's going on? I see kids are volunteering to pick up garbage, they're volunteering to stay after school, they're volunteering to write letters ... We just started thinking about, ‘How can we be selfless?'"

The Brave Challenge was ultimately formed by the desire of the students that launched the group, he said. The teachers presented the ideas and the kids just started showing up.

Seven students attended the first meeting last year, said Krogh. Seven students grew to around 16 at the next meeting, which eventually grew to about 30 students, he said.

This year, 95 students attended the first lunch meeting, he said. The first after school meeting drew around 75 students.

"It was overwhelming as a teacher to see that many kids coming in, giving up their lunch," he said.

There are no incentives or rewards like candy or donuts at meetings, he said.

"They show up every week because these kids want to make a difference," he said.

It all comes down to positivity, said eighth-grader Jamie Gipson.

"The major point of this group is just to bring out the positive side in everything and think of the glass more as half full than half empty," she said. "And we just kind of want to spread this to the community, that we just need to all stick together and make it more positive."