Before teenager Rachel Joy Scott was killed in the horrific Columbine High School shooting, she knew her life would touch millions of people across the world.She probably had no idea, however, that she would impact students in a remote Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.The Chain Reaction programme, started by Miss Scott’s father and brother in the US, has made its way to four Bermuda schools: CedarBridge Academy, the Berkeley Institute and Whitney and Dellwood middle schools.Spearheaded by Pastor Gary Simons and Mary Samuels of The Cornerstone Foundation, the programme is teaching young people to stomp out bullying through kindness and compassion.Over the past year scores of young people have gotten on board with the project.CedarBridge Academy students wrote letters of appreciation to bus drivers to thank them for their service; Berkeley students passed out positive notes to members of the student body and washed their teachers’ cars.Mr Simons said the programme’s mentoring component has been extremely successful when it comes to students on probation for academics. Nearly 80 percent have come off probation and gone straight into the next school year in good academic standing, Mr Simons said.Student services has also reported a reduction in fights and outbreaks at the schools, he added.Students are first taught about the programme through emotive monthly school assemblies. The first one tells them about Rachel, who died along with 12 others in the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999.Her attackers, senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were said to have been victims of bullying.Shortly before dying, Ms Scott wrote a two-page essay describing her code of ethics and what she did to reach out and show kindness at her school. In particular she befriended students with special needs and those who were new to the school or being picked on by others.Her life inspired Rachel's Challenge, a nationwide school outreach programme in the US aimed at preventing teen violence; it has been implemented in 100,000 schools worldwide.Mr Simons said: “What we have done is taken this anti-violence message and adapted and packaged it for Bermudian students.“Right now we are in four schools and we believe this is just the beginning of rescuing the next generation by bringing this pro-kindness message from Rachel’s story.”Through guest speakers and other presentations, students are challenged to look for the best in others, to pursue their dreams and choose positive influences.They are also encouraged to start a ‘chain reaction’, whereby they make a personal commitment to positively impact their school and stop teasing others.Mr Simons explained: “After each assembly we say if you are serious about starting Rachel’s Challenge you can sign this banner, which will hang in the school for the rest of the year.”Those students who decide to become leaders are invited to come back for training. They share with their peers how the assembly impacted them and can talk about their personal stories if they like.“Because of the recent shootings that have taken place in Bermuda, a lot of them are very transparent as to how they are dealing with that,” Mr Simons said. “Especially in the middle school they tend to be more transparent in sharing what actually has impacted them, but the high school students as well.“We had powerful times as students shared about how ‘I am teased in school all the time’ and they break down and cry and other students will come and hug them.“Some of the very students that teased them will come and say ‘I need to stop this’. So what happens is that with the assemblies the impact is you get bullies and those who are teased who come together and start working in unity to bring a change in their school.”After the monthly assemblies, students have an opportunity to join clubs some of these groups are charged with writing letters of appreciation or giving thoughtful gifts to spread kindness.Others can be part of a ‘new student team’, where they look out for transferred students or those who don’t have many friends in the school and help them with homework and settling into the new environment.Ms Samuels said the clubs “really allow students to put their hands and feet into action to be able to reach the rest of the school and the community”.“The clubs have a very powerful impact in the school and really allow students to put into action what they heard in the assemblies.”Mr Simons recently gave a presentation to members of the business community in a bid to raise funds for next year’s programme. The programme costs between $13,400 and $16,700 annually to run at each school.He said the charity was looking to expand the programme and put a gang prevention team together over the summer months.Starting in the next school year, it is also looking to provide mentors to students who are suspended to help them get back on track. They also plan to offer power lunch sessions to spur young people into talking about various hot topics.In 2013, they will hold a march of kindness students will walk to City Hall to celebrate acts of kindness taking place in the community.Mr Simons said: “We continue to share with them the importance of impacting their campus and school itself, but also their community.“The idea is to make the world a better place. We share the importance about what needs to change about their school and [have] discussions about what we can do to make a difference.“[The goal is to] get them to take action and say ‘we can’t just sit around and wait for this to happen’.”To find out how you can support the Chain Reaction programme phone 295-9640.Useful website: www.cfbermuda.org