When Erin Gruwell began teaching in 1992, her first students were labeled drop-outs and the principal and head of the school's English department called them stupid, Gruwell said. The majority of her students were affected by violence, poverty and racial tension while others had spent time in juvenile detention or jail, she said.
But instead of giving up on the seemingly hopeless group, Gruwell empowered them with knowledge so they could one day rise above their situations and become successful, she said.
"I wanted them to learn how to pick up a pen instead of a switchblade," Gruwell said.
Gruwell discussed how people can fight back against life situations by using knowledge to overcome hardships to a crowded room Wednesday night in Cardinal Hall. The event, sponsored by Excellence in Leadership and the Office of Leadership and Service Learning, was targeted toward teachers.
At first, Gruwell's students wouldn't read their assignments, she said. They had been raised to live a life of violence and did not believe anything in literature could ever relate to their lives, she said. .
Gruwell said that on the second day of class she brought champagne glasses and apple cider and asked her students to make a pact with one another in what she called a "toast for change."
"She said, 'from this day on, it doesn't matter what you've done before, it's about change,'" Maria, one of Gruwell's former students said.
Gruwell began bringing in books such as "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "Night" to show students that the characters in the stories were in situations similar to their own, she said.
"The students were so excited to come in and tell me what page they were on," Gruwell said. "'I'm on page 25' or 'I'm on page 30,' ... it became exciting for me and them."
Gruwell later instructed her students to write about their own situations and compiled them together to create a book, she said.
Soon after the students graduated, the book, "The Freedom Writer's Diary," was signed to a publishing deal.
Gruwell stressed the idea that everyone can be a teacher and encourage students use school to beat the odds.
"Four years later, 150 kids who weren't supposed to make it, all graduated," she said.
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