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NORTON - At 17, Columbine High School student Rachel Scott wrote an essay urging people to start a "chain reaction."

At the same time, fellow Columbine students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made a video using the same phrase.

But while "my sister was talking about a chain reaction of kindness and compassion," Harris and Klebold were talking about "violence and death," said Rachel's brother, Craig Scott.

On April 20, 1999, Harris and Klebold went on a shooting rampage at their Littleton, Colo., high school, the worst school shooting spree in U.S. history. Twelve students and one teacher were killed, and 24 people were wounded, after which Harris and Klebold committed suicide.

Rachel Scott was their first victim. "She was killed by two people who needed to be shown kindness and compassion," Craig Scott told students in grades 8 to 12 during a 60-minute talk Tuesday at Norton High School.

Scott issued the Norton students a five-part challenge to live their lives in a way that starts the kind of chain reaction that Rachel envisioned.

The last part was: "Go to at least five people in your life and tell them how much you appreciate them, how much you care about them and how much you love them," Scott said.

"It means a lot to me, and it's going to mean a lot to those people," Scott told students in the school gym.

Norton High's student council and Students Against Destructive Decisions group co-sponsored the talk, which featured news footage from the shooting, as well as video of Rachel over the course of her life. Scott also read excerpts from Rachel's essays and her diary.

Scott addressed students earlier Tuesday. He planned to meet with Norton parents at Norton Middle School Tuesday night.

After hearing Scott's talk, students signed a giant sheet pledging to do the "Rachel's Challenge" he outlined. He also trained them to form Friends of Rachel clubs, which will do community projects and promote character development.

Scott's five challenges started with "Choose positive influences in your life" and "to even seek them out."

The second was, "Dare to dream," preferably spending 15 to 20 minutes each day to "take the lid off your imagination, and focus on dreams and goals."

"What you do and what you say starts with a thought," Scott said. Scott said a lot of teenagers feel "isolated" and "disconnected."

He said last year he received 156 e-mails from "students who were planning to take their own life, but my sister inspired them to continue to live."

"When you really belong to a community, you never dream of taking your own life," he said.

The third challenge was, "Kind words and little acts of kindness make a big difference."

"Use your words to encourage and build up people," Scott said.

To introduce the concept, Scott recalled how Rachel approached Columbine student Adam Kyler after other students knocked books out of his hands.

Rachel offered Kyler her support.

"Adam told us Rachel prevented him from taking his own life," Scott said.

Scott's fourth challenge was, "Eliminate prejudice," and not just the racial kind.

Scott recalled being in his school library with two friends, Matt and Isaiah, when the shooting happened.

Isaiah was shot dead.

"The last things Isaiah heard in his life were racial slurs being used against him," Scott said.

"I'll never forget the last thing that he said was 'I want to see my Mom.' "

When Scott got out of the library, someone called his attention to another potential victim.

"I looked out behind the police car. It was Rachel," Scott said.

"All of a sudden, the things that I cared about didn't matter. But the things that Rachel cared about became very important."

Norton High wellness teacher Mike Vitelli told his students that a "culture change" is under way in the school.

Juniors and seniors have been "a very big part of that, and they would like (eighth graders) to carry that on," he said.

Vitelli predicted that Scott's talk would be "one of the most powerful hours of your life."

"All I can say to you is, 'Be very open-minded as you listen to this,' " Vitelli said.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER covers Norton for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.