In the 25 years since the Columbine massacre, 394 kids have been killed in school shootings. It’s unthinkable that a place where kids should feel safe has been compromised. But there’s something else.

For every one of the 394, 426 kids have taken their own lives over the same period of time. This equals almost 168,000 dead children. Every 50 seconds a child is admitted to the emergency room because of a suicide attempt while every 79 minutes a child is successful. Yet, our focus remains almost exclusively on the school shootings.

Shooting up a school is wrong. I’m not glossing over it. But we aren’t doing enough to address the mental anguish our young people are experiencing.

It’s easy to point out problems but there is hope. Rachel’s Challenge is the best, most effective school program that truly changes the culture of the school. Kids who used to have issues with each other are now high-fiving each other. Rachel’s story has caused a drop in the youth suicide rate of 3%, but the program is only in .77% of schools. Rival gangs have become friends and bullying behavior goes away because of a story, Rachel’s story.

More on this to come. In the interim, please check out Rachel’s Challenge:

http://www.rachelschallenge.org