Education is an important part of the world today and it is important that every student is able to reach their maximum potential. Erin Gruwell, born in Southern California on August 15, 1969, becomes a symbol of hope and change as she forever changed the lives of her struggling students at Woodrow Wilson High School who had been "erased from the education system" (Rea,2012 ) giving them a voice and instilling infinite potential in every student. Long before Gruwell became a teacher, she aspired to be a lawyer. However, after witnessing the violent Los Angeles riots in 1992, he decided his passion was to make a difference in the lives of children as a teacher. In 1994, Woodrow Wilson High hired Gruwell and gave her classes full of "unteachable" and "failing" students who had no respect for the school or the teachers.() However, instead of being discouraged by the group of students she was given assigned, Guwell wanted to change the way these kids thought and viewed school and themselves (Adams, 2013). Through her innovative teaching style she was able to communicate with her students by reading them stories of hardship that they could identify with. As time passed her students slowly began to embrace her and together they wrote The Freedom Writers Diary; which included the inspiring stories in her students' journals, from their difficult upbringings to their daily struggles and how they managed to stay strong through it all. I chose Erin Gruwell as my leader to showcase someone with such a passion for making a difference. She and I don't believe in the "separate but equal" paradigm, how could something be separate but treated equal at that time? I find it redundant and the same goes for Gruwell. I admire his strength and courage in creating a di...... middle of paper......ty. -Salem College. Retrieved November 19, 2013, from http://www.salem.edu/events/erin-gruwell-the-original-freedom-writer-empowering-students-faculty-and-the-community Choi, J. (2009). Reading educational philosophies in Freedom Writers. The Clearing House, 82(5), 244-248.Elsenbach, B., & Kaywell, J. (2013). Making an impression: YA authors and their influential teachers. English Journal, 102(5), 74-79. Erin Gruwell. (n.d.). Cech. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://cech.uc.edu/content/dam/cech/centers/hope/docs/Erin%20Gruwell%20Biography.pdfMitchell, M., & Jacob, D. (2011). A toast to change. Reclaiming Children & Youth Spring, 20(1), 26-28.Petersen, A. (2009). Theirs, our history: liberal writers as a scenario for pedagogical reform. Film and History, 39(1), 31-43.Trierweiler, H. (2009). Speaking with Erin Gruwell. Speaking with Erin Gruwell, 118(4), 27-28.