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Freshman Year, Fall-Spring
Ms. Gruwell started the year as an outsider because she wanted to go to Long Beach and teach the "sure to drop out" kids and make them into great people. She was an outcast to the teachers some of them said, "You're making us look bad,"(4), showing that they don't like her very much. Some other students were saying, "She'll only last a day"(7). She proved them all wrong when she chose books to reach out and relate to the kids. She even got them on field trips and to meet people like John Tu. -
Meeting John Tu, Spring
Meeting John Tu was like getting the best gift ever to most of the students. They felt that John was the father that most of them never had. He related to them, and made them feel good about themselves making some students turn over a new leaf and become better people after meeting him. -
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Sophomore Year, Fall-Spring
Ms. Gruwell created a toast for change so that they would start a read-a-thon for tolerance to meet the people from their stories, like a holocaust survivor and Anne Frank's best friends from her diary. Later on, they got to meet with Zlata Filipovic and talk with her, then they realized that she had a lot in common with them, so she was a normal teenager from a war torn country that shaped her life early on. -
Dinner with Zlata, Spring
The students of room 203 were visited by Zlata Filipovic at the Marriott Hotel in Long Beach. Some of the students were talking with her and then found out they had a lot in common with each other and felt as if she was just a normal teen like them, just from a war torn country. -
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Junior Year, Fall-Spring
After reading more and more about racists issues, they stumble upon the story of the Freedom Riders and how they were willing to lose their lives to try and stand up to the KKK by riding with black people on the same bus. After hearing that, room 203 decides to adopt the name and officially become the Freedom Writers, they then go to Washington D.C. to follow in the Freedom Riders' footsteps. They also meet with Anne Frank's friends and go to a holocaust museum and experience what they did. -
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Senior Year, Fall-Spring
In their final year of high school, all of the Freedom Writers have to start planning for their futures, many of them were unsure of even getting into college. Many of the students couldn't afford it, so Ms. Gruwell had them sign up for scholarships to help afford it. They then decide to put all of their diaries together and make a book, published by Doubleday. By the end of the year, all of the students have graduated and moved on with their lives as adults.