“She gave us an opportunity to really know each other. Erin created a place where I could feel safe. “I started to believe in the power of resilience and not tolerate abuse. “Writing down my story and reading about ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War and those persecuted during the Holocaust put my life in perspective,” said Jacobs, who works for the foundation now. She said she was a shy and reclusive teen until she met Gruwell. Jacobs talked about growing up with domestic violence as she moved with her mother from Louisiana to California, eventually winding up homeless. Other Freedom Writers talking to me last week included Tiffony Jacobs and Latilla Cain. She is a home grown Long Beach product now on a national stage also and, to some degree, international.” It’s a remarkable story of how a teacher can have a tremendous impact on students. “She found ways to give students a voice. “What Erin did was really important,” Cohn said. Cohn now is executive director for the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. One of Gruwell’s strongest supporters continues to be Carl Cohn, who was superintendent for the Long Beach Unified School District when she was teaching at Wilson.
The foundation also gives scholarships to high school students to go to college. Gruwell said more than 600 teachers have attended the Institute from all 50 states, along with 20 countries.
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Gruwell’s foundation created the Freedom Writers Institute, a development program instructing educators on how to engage and empower their students. More than half graduated with college degrees. Gruwell said all of the Freedom Writers graduated from high school and most went either to a city college or university. Much has changed for Gruwell and her former students in the last 20 years. The documentary, “Freedom Writers, Stories from an Undeclared War,” will be followed by a question-and-answer period and book signings by Gruwell and some of the Freedom Writers. Wednesday at the Crystal Cove Auditorium at University of California, Irvine.
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“But, instead of marking it up with a red pen like other teachers had done, Erin said, “I think you have a learning disorder.”Ī documentary depicting what happened before, during and after the Freedom Writers entered Room 203 at Wilson 20 years ago will be shown free from 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m. “I was so afraid when I turned in my first paper,” she recalled. There were times I felt suicidal.”īut a remarkable transformation took place when Sue Ellen was placed in an English class being taught by Erin Gruwell. “I was told I was not college material and shouldn’t even think about it. “Some of the teachers called me lazy and stupid,” she said. Her confidence and self-esteem plummeted at Wilson High School. For a while, I was homeless and lived in a camper at a gas station.” “My father was an alcoholic and my parents finally divorced,” she told me last week. That was 20 years ago, but she remembered her suffering like it was yesterday.Ģ022 Update: Freedom Writers publish international sequel to famous book Sue Ellen Alpizar wiped away tears as she talked about the darkest days of her teenage years in Long Beach.
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