
Born August 5, 1981 She Was 17 Years Old,
Rachel Scott was a vibrant and straight-forward individual. She wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in, no matter what. She played the lead in a student-written school play, "The Smoke in the Room" (co-starring friends Nick Baumgart, Lauren Beachem, and others), and was writing a play for her senior year. She also liked photography and was active in the Celebration Christian Fellowship church. She was "made for the camera," according to her father, Darrell, and was an aspiring writer and actress. "There's nothing I can add or take away from what she gave us," her mom, Beth, said. "In those short 17 years, it was complete."
She quit smoking at the request of friend Nick Baumgart who later took her to the prom. If she hadn't quit, it's quite possible she would've been at "Smoker's Pit" during lunch instead of in the line of fire. As it was, she was eating lunch on the grass with friend Richard Castaldo when the shooters opened fire on the west entrance near where she was seated on the grass. According to witnesses, she was hit and fell to the ground where, moments later, one of the shooters came down the hill and shot her at point-blank range when she tried to get up. She died from gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm and leg, and was one of the first victims in what would soon become one of the nation's most deadly mass shootings.
One of the shooters, Dylan Klebold, had known Rachel since kindergarten and had even been the sound tech for a talent show she performed in, in 1998. Ironically, when the sound broke down, it was Dylan who saved the performance by hooking up a reserve tape deck. Rachel had been performing a mime dance "Watch the Lamb" which portrayed Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus� cross along part of the Via Dolorosa. That same mime dance was later performed behind her coffin during her funeral.