Freedom Writer inspires Heritage High School class

Columbian - 2/8/2019

Feb. 08--A crowd of Heritage High School students watched with rapt attention Thursday as Carlos Barragan talked about growing up in Long Beach, Calif.

Speaking through video conference, Barragan told them about being abandoned by his parents. He recounted the gang violence that surrounded him. He told them about how he turned to tagging and graffiti as a form of escape.

But, most importantly, he talked about the teacher whose care and attention changed his life.

Barragan is a member of the original class of Freedom Writers. It's a story made famous by the eponymous 2007 film starring Hilary Swank, in which student teacher Erin Gruwell encouraged her students to use reading and writing to overcome adversity.

She allowed her students to keep anonymous journals, in which they wrote about gang violence, abuse, drugs and other personal challenges. They also read books that reflected their own lives, and together, the students built bonds and a support system that pushed them to graduation.

"She's my mentor, man," Barragan told the class. "If you meet her, she'll talk to you like she's known you for years."

It's a model English teacher Steve Massart is mirroring in his own class. His room is stacked with books such as "The Hate U Give," Angie Thomas' breakout novel about a black teenager killed by a white police officer, and Sherman Alexie's semi-autobiographical novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian."

All 80 students in Massart's English classes have been identified under that umbrella term, "at risk." All are missing required credits to graduate for a number of reasons, be it apathy at school or problems at home. But most are recuperating as many as eight of the required 24 credits to graduate through this class, offering a shot at on-time graduation.

"The kids, I think they feel the heaviness as juniors and seniors with the dire nature of graduation," Massart said. "Half the time I feel like a bicycle pump sort of pumping these kids back up."

Massart asked his students to create a project based on the idea of turning points. Some are writing novels or creating pieces of artwork. Others are organizing events or initiatives.

Then, there are seniors Antoinette Gay and Mikaela Acevedo. They were inspired to bring the themes of the Freedom Writers deeper into the classroom after reading "The Freedom Writers Diary" and watching the film in class.

"We decided based off of that to try to get one of the original Freedom Writers to talk about their struggles," Acevedo said.

Students laughed and peppered Barragan with questions, as he encouraged them to stay in school, appreciate their teachers and take risks. At one point, junior Donavin Magno burst into song at Barragan's urging.

"It gave me hope," Magno said of Barragan's talk. "He has this radiantly positive personality."

It was a particularly emotional conversation for Gay, who dabbed tears from her eyes as Barragan described moving from home to home. Gay has spent portions of her high school career homeless. She'd skip school frequently, leaving her far behind on her required classes.

"Honestly, I didn't care about school," Gay said. "I was mostly trying to figure out if I had money in my pocket and a roof over my head."

She now lives with family, and said she's trying to "bust her butt" to graduate on time. She attributes that success and growth to having classes like Massart's, which "made me push harder than I've ever pushed before."

"They taught me not to just give up on myself when I have the potential to do better," she said.

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