Brandie Orozco, a friend of Rachel Scott's family, tells how Rachel's actions in her short life have inspired positive change. The photo on the screen shows Rachel, left, and her brother, Craig. Rachel died in the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.

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The story of Rachel Scott, the first victim of the Columbine High School shooting, prompted many students in the Tanque Verde Unified School District to make a pledge of kindness toward others.

At assemblies last week, students watched a video showing news footage of the shooting that took the lives of 13 people on April 20, 1999.

Students at Tanque Verde High School and Emily Gray Junior High School watched the chaos that ensued after Columbine students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a shooting rampage that ended with their suicides.

But the hour-long presentation mostly focused on Rachel's life and her acts of kindness and compassion.

Students got a glimpse of the teen through interviews with family, friends and teachers. Rachel was 17 and a junior when she was killed.

"She's touched me very much," Kathryn Berry, 12, said through tears after the assembly. "If you do things that matter, then when you die you will live on.

"Rachel will live on through us when we do little acts of kindness like the ones she did."

Like many of her classmates, the seventh-grader signed a banner as a promise to be kind to others.

Brandie Orozco, a friend of the Scott family, spoke at the assemblies about how Rachel's actions in her short life have inspired positive change across the country through a school program founded on her beliefs.

The program, known as Rachel's Challenge, involves creating a positive, compassionate environment that is free of prejudice, she said. "Do this and create a chain reaction in your own life," Orozco told a rapt audience at the junior high.

Orozco urged the students to think about the potential impact of their words and actions.

"You have so much power with the things you tell somebody," said Orozco, who, like Rachel's family members, is on a mission to keep Rachel's legacy alive at schools throughout the United States and abroad.

"I don't know anybody who wasn't inspired," said seventh-grader Morganne Lloyd, 12. "I was inspired to be more compassionate to my brothers."

Travis Westhoven, an eighth-grader, said he was glad for the opportunity to learn more about Rachel and her ideals.

"You're supposed to treat people right, don't make fun of people, don't judge them," the 13-year-old said.

His friend, Kaven Hernandez, also 13, said learning about Rachel had persuaded him to strive for kindness on a regular basis.

"I'm going to start doing it now," the eighth-grader said.

Like Lloyd and Westhoven, Hernandez showed his commitment to follow Rachel's example by signing the banner.