Columbine survivor challenges local students to spread acts of kindness

Instead of dwelling on the past, Columbine survivor Craig Scott chooses to turn his pain into purpose with presentations.

Scott attended Harper McCaughan Elementary this afternoon and his goal was to challenge them. He challenged them to do many things which involves using kind words, accepting, and including others, choosing positive influences, and setting goals.

The last challenge was to keep a journal because that’s what his sister did before her life was taken by the Columbine shooter.

All of these points led up to one challenge that was inspired by his sister which was to start a chain reaction of kindness. Scott said, “When sharing about kindness and compassion, you also have to teach responsibility and resilience, because you can’t expect the world to be kind to you, but if you can focus on how I can help other people to help you actually get out of yourself, it’s awesome to see the answers that these little kids have when I asked ‘hey what are kind words you can say, what are kind things you can do’… literally if you listen to them, it blows me away with their answers.”

Fifth grader Sawyer Bennett said, “This presentation was really heartwarming because you learn a lot, like the things you need to do in life are a lot in that.”

Fourth grader Sage Simmons said, “My favorite part was when he talked about how you can make a chain reaction and I just thought that was really inspiring.”

If you wish to hear from Craig Scott, he’ll be giving a presentation called ‘Pain into Purpose’ tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at First Baptist Church Gulfport.