GCISD Rachel’s Challenge expo slated for April 18

Stronger as a Team Rally, Fun Run & Community Expo to honor Rachel’s Challenge will be held from 8-11 a.m. April 18 in the parking lot at Grapevine High School.

Rachel’s Challenge is a character education program that all Grapevine-Colleyville school district campuses use to promote positive campus environments.

Rachel’s Challenge encourages kindness, respect and compassion for others. The program promotes a safe learning environment for all students and empowers children and adults with tools to combat bullying and harassment.

The rally is a celebration of the many acts of student kindness and compassion that have been ongoing throughout the school year and is sponsored by the GCISD Education Foundation.

In addition to celebrating student accomplishments, the event will feature its second-annual Fun Run. The fun run/walk will allow community members to participate with students, teachers, administrators and parents in a district-wide event that celebrates kindness and compassion.

GCISD, in partnership with the GCISD Education Foundation, GCISD Council of PTAs, and the GCISD Diversity Advisory Council, is coordinating the event to encourage inclusiveness, teamwork, diversity appreciation and awareness.

Promoters say it is their belief that by encouraging those fundamental values, they can further the Rachel’s Challenge initiative, which aims to inspire students to replace acts of bullying with acts of respect and kindness.

The event will host more than 50 vendor booths, including local businesses, organizations and student and school groups and clubs.

The expo will provide autograph forms so attendees can get autographs from guest speakers Olympic medalist Jordan Malone and Miss Texas Monique Evans.

The autograph forms are also for younger students to get autographs from older students.

By doing so, organizers say, they hope to introduce younger students to a wide variety of groups, clubs and activities that they can be involved in as they get older.

Superintendent Robin Ryan maintains that when students are actively involved in these sort of activities they do better in school, attendance is better and there are less discipline problems, along with many other benefits. Also, older students will become more aware that they are role models; that they have younger kids looking up to them and admiring them, and hopefully that will encourage a sense of responsibility to be a positive role model in the community.

For information on groups participating or what the entails, go to www.gcisd-k12.org/Page/32352.

This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 9:14 AM with the headline "GCISD Rachel’s Challenge expo slated for April 18."