Students at Liberty High School were put to a challenge Tuesday morning when they were asked to view the world through the eyes of Rachel Scott.

Scott was the first student killed in the Columbine High School shootings on April 20, 1999, in Colorado. Her father Darrell Scott came to Liberty in Renton to share with students and staff his daughter’s message of compassion and kindness in an hour-long presentation called “Rachel’s Challenge.”

Using footage from that tragic day 12 years ago, Scott retold the events that led to the murder of 13 people at the hands of students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. He asked everyone in Liberty’s gymnasium to think of someone they have lost recently and he dedicated the presentation to them.

“Look for the best in others, you’ll find it,” he said, as he went through the beliefs that guided Rachel’s through her life.

After she died, Rachel’s family came across her diaries and an essay she wrote titled “My Ethics, My Codes of Life,” in which she outlines how to treat people with compassion and kindness.

Scott challenged the students to start a chain reaction of kindness, not look in the mirror and see what others see, to choose positive influences and to let their words be words of kindness.

He drew a connection between Anne Frank and Rachel, saying while each were victim’s of Adolf Hitler’s influence – Rachel was killed on his birthday, a detail planned by Harris and Klebold – both girls are impacting the world with their writings.

Fifteen million people have heard Rachel’s story, according to her father. He and a team of speakers have traveled to 50 states and six countries with her message.

Liberty students sat in rapt attention, responding with raised hands or laughter where appropriate. After the presentation ended, students got out of their seats and shook Scott’s hand; some even gave him a hug.

For 17-year-old JD Charest it brought up a scare the school had this past fall. After school ended last year, a note was found penciled on a stall in the boys bathroom, saying someone was going to bring a gun to school on a specific day in October. The threat was investigated and the school took all the necessary precautions and the day came and went without incident. But, the idea still haunts Charest today.

Violence of any kind is unsettling and Charest was particularly sensitive to what he thought of as bullying that leads to retaliation. While it has been said Harris and Klebold were not bullied, in other recent high profile cases bullying has led teenagers to commit such acts as suicide.

“Those 13 people could be 13 of my closest friends,” he said. “It could have been anything, you know, just to know that I could have caused it too.”

He trails off getting choked up with a tear on his cheek.

Charest explains that the idea is unfathomable that he could be responsible for pushing someone to the edge to commit such acts like the Columbine shootings.

“I’m just going to push to be kind and make sure nobody never looks at my actions or my words as something that could lead them to do anything like that,” Charest said.

Liberty students agree that bullying takes on more forms than the obvious.

“At Liberty the physical bullying is not always there,” said Lauren Bay, 17, the ASB president. “It’s the verbal, it’s the undercover, it’s what you don’t see and that’s, I think, what Rachel’s Challenge is all about.”

The students heard stories about how Rachel befriended a new girl in school and defended a special needs student from bullies.

“So much of this they’re social networking and they hide behind Facebook and texting and our kids are just as guilty of that as other kids,” said Michelle Munson, Liberty’s dean of students. “And this is an opportunity for them to realize that anything they write, anything they say does have an impact on others and that they do make a difference whether positive or negative.”

Principal Mike Deletis thinks that bullying has gotten better over the last 12 years, meaning it’s not as bad. He said that the assembly just adds another layer to what is already a supportive community and they hope to build on the lessons from Rachel’s Challenge.

“We will look forward to carrying the message forward in different ways and we have some ideas already, but we really want to tap into the kids and say ‘How can that manifest itself more on a daily basis?’” Deletis said.