Section 7 Summary
Senior Year: Fall 1997
She had to fight for her class again this year, but Erin Gruwell has found some allies in the administration and will teach her class as they become seniors. When Secretary Riley tells her students that “everyone deserves a college education,” Ms. G takes it as a personal challenge to give each of her students a chance to do so. The idea of college is foreign to most of her students, and she knows she will have to help them through the myriad difficulties which will arise. She will use her graduate college students as mentors for her Freedom Writers, and she has created a nonprofit organization called Tolerance Education Foundation to help them overcome the biggest obstacle—money.
The thought of going to college is daunting to students whose families do not always have enough money to pay their rent. A guest speaker from the projects who survived a horrific ordeal is an encouragement, for if she could survive and go on to graduate from college with honors, so can they.
Not everyone in the class is confident. One student’s family has just been evicted from their home, and he is now considering dropping out of school, taking the GED, and getting a job (or two) to help his family survive. Another is acting as the head of her home after her parents left. Everyone wants money, and she is doing poorly in school. When she can take no more, she confides in Ms. G and her fellow Freedom Writers. They cry with her, hug her, and give her the support she needs to persevere. She even plans to go on a college visit with members of her class. Her dreams are not dead.
All the other students talk about going to college, but one student knows that it will be more difficult for her because she is an illegal immigrant. She came to America for an education and is determined to become a teacher so she can help others like her. One student wants to be a teacher but is afraid that is not a lofty enough goal, and another wants to be a filmmaker but is not sure that will ever happen. In both cases, the rest of the class wholeheartedly supports the goals.
History does repeat itself, but not in every circumstance. For those who will be the first in their families to go to college, a new history will be written. They go on a college visit with Ms. G to National University, where they learn about financial aid, college life, and the admissions process. Other students have experiences with mentors in order to determine their career paths.
The Freedom Writers now act as mentors for students at an elementary school. Ms. G told them they would come back from Washington as heroes, and it seems they have. Students talk about their experiences with gangs and life on the streets and encourage their young audience to hold on to their dreams—and to dream big.
The written word is powerful, and people continue to write about Ms. G and her class. Prisoners also write letters to them after reading about them in the paper. Students are beginning to learn the power of the written word.
Having a father is important to the students, but not everyone is lucky enough to know who their father is. One student is so excited to finally meet her father, only to find that, when she gets to his house, he will not come out to see her. Another student’s father has been shot in the head; his recovery is difficult, but having a wounded father is better than having no father at all. A week before Christmas, another student’s mother dies. As time passes, the Freedom Writers try to be a source of strength for their fellow student, but she pushes them away, even though she is not okay. She will have to choose to open up to them and accept them as her second family so she will not be so alone.
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