Senior Year

Senior year has officially come for the students, and more doors are starting to open for the students and Gruwell. The year starts out by the class being collectively nominated for the Spirit of Anne Frank Award by Gruwell, which they eventually won. They also got another opportunity to publish their book, based on their diaries. While interviewing for the Anne Frank Award, Gruwell happened to run back into a publisher who she had meet with earlier. After hearing the story again, the publisher was all about giving Gruwell and the students a book deal. The book would be about adversities that the students had overcome, and how the class came together in the past four years. As these opportunities arose, along with the prospect of going to college, Gruwell received a new opportunity as well. California State University, Long Beach offered her a new teaching position in the education department. Gruwell decides to take the job, and leave Wilson along with the seniors. Before the end of the year, the students struggled with the idea of life after the Gruwell era, as did Gruwell with life after this group of students. They decided that they would take one more trip. A trip that would not happen until the following year, with only fifty of the students; they decided to take twenty days and go to Europe. The trip was a success; it included guest speakers and even a trip to Anne Frank’s attic. At times there were some nerve wrecking moments, but overall the trip was a great experience that allowed the students to make an even better connection with the environment that they had read so much about. After a year of teaching, and promoting the new book, Gruwell was encouraged and then decided to run for congress, which she eventually lost.
I feel that Gruwell is just a one class wonder. This past section was very sad for me to read, instead of encouraging like all the previous ones. I was originally sad to see the class and Gruwell have to separate, but that quickly turned into an annoyance once she decided to for congress and include them in on everything. I feel like she is trying to hold on to her students as long as she can. I guess I do not blame her, she does not seem happy with them gone, and it seems that her heart is not in anything she does now. I think that she got in to deep with the class. I realize that a lot of the students owe their lives to her, but she did what she was supposed to. She prepared them for life after high school, and all of them made it to college because of her. She now needs to get her life back on track, and move on. Its good that she still sees the students and has an opportunity to communicate with them, but I think it’s a little much that she still allows them to rely and hang on to her as much as they do. I know this book and everything happened for them because of how close they are, but in general, I would not want my life as an educator to end up like that. She just does not seem that happy. I believe she was meant to do two things; teach in high school, and write this book. I don’t know the impact she has had on her college students, but she is a great high school teacher, and I’m sure has changed the attitudes of many education majors who have read her book. I am defiantly someone who will struggle every year at graduation; I do not like change, or goodbyes. I hope that students will come back and see me, but I also hope that I do not get as depressed and down like its seems that Gruwell did with her class. I know it is different, but I feel Gruwell would just be better off teaching the same students for one or two years. That way she can make a connection with the students, give them the opportunity to work under her, and than be sad and excited that there moving on for graduation. Instead of dreading to see them go.