Civil Writers

After writing their own book, what next but a spot on “Prime Time Live”?

Forty-three Woodrow Wilson High School seniors and their English teacher, Erin Gruwell of Newport Beach, have touched down in the Big Apple.

For their efforts to promote tolerance, the Long Beach students received a national award Thursday from the Anne Frank Center USA in New York.

After an emotional send-off at Los Angeles International Airport, Gruwell, chaperones and teens--who are among 150 students who call themselves Freedom Writers after the civil rights group--arrived in Manhattan Tuesday night and will return early Sunday.

By trip’s end, the students hope to have built a bridge of cooperation with New York students encouraging religious and racial harmony in their neighborhoods. They will attend workshops on the subject taught by the nonprofit Anne Frank organization and meet Gov. George Pataki, Broadway stars and diplomats.

“We turned our essays in Friday on how we would be a good spokesperson for tolerance, and Miss Gruwell called us at home Sunday to tell us who was going to New York,” said Meghan Perry, 17, among the 43 students selected to make the trip as ambassadors for the larger group.

“It’s sort of overwhelming, and great. Miss Gruwell is amazing as it is. But getting 40 people to New York when you don’t have any money is pretty big,” Perry said.

On Wednesday, “Prime Time Live’s” Connie Chung started tailing the Freedom Writers for a piece to air nationally next month. They met Pataki and representatives from publishers Scholastic Inc. and Doubleday.

The students are hoping to find a publisher for their book, “An American Diary: Voices of an Undeclared War,” but intend to self-publish it if necessary. What proceeds they may earn will help them through college.

On Thursday, the group was among five recipients of the Spirit of Anne Frank award, presented at the North American premiere of the Anne Frank Center’s new traveling exhibit.

Usually, the center awards individuals but an exception was made this year for the Freedom Writers.

Awards were presented by actress Linda Lavin, one of the stars of the current Broadway show about the Amsterdam teenager whose diary, written during the Holocaust, was published after her death in a concentration camp.

The Wilson students saw the play and later dined with the Netherlands ambassador to the United Nations and the consul general of the Netherlands in New York.

The center says it gives the awards to people who, like Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide Anne Frank’s family and recovered her diary, “have actively worked to make the world a better place [and] exemplify the ideals and courage that Anne Frank’s story brings to light.”

During the week, Freedom Writers will also take part in Jewish religious services and workshops on how to encourage tolerance. About 20 New York high school students joined them for the workshops and the Freedom Writers shared excerpts of their book. They also met with author Peter Maas, whose book on the Bosnian conflict will be read in class by the Wilson High students.

With the $1,000 that came with their award, the Freedom Writers intend to buy copies of “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” for a New York public school.

How the trip was arranged illustrates what has become standard operating procedure for Gruwell, 28, who inspires not only her students but members of the community to rally to their aid.

Susan Tenney of Guess? Inc., read a Times story on the Freedom Writers’ accomplishments last fall that told of their hopes of raising money to visit European Holocaust sites. Tenney offered the company’s help. The offer was among dozens that came in, along with about $15,000 in donations to the students’ Tolerance Education Foundation.

When Gruwell learned her students could not receive the Anne Frank award unless they accepted in person, she spent the next several weeks trying to get all 150 Freedom Writers to New York. It was just too much money, though, especially if they wanted to make the European trip en masse this summer.

As the awards ceremony inched nearer, Gruwell faxed a proposal to Guess, which has an employee community outreach committee, said member Susan Mock. The committee decided to pay to get a third of the kids to New York.

Mock and three other Guess employees were a four-part pep rally for the Freedom Writers at LAX. They outfitted the students, distributed airline tickets and cheered them right onto the plane.

“I’ve never been hugged by that many strangers in my life,” Sherry Koopman, Guess travel coordinator, said as the plane took off. “I wish I was going with them.”

Gruwell got United Airlines to provide rock-bottom prices for the flight. The Marriott hotel chain is housing the students three to a room at discount rates. Several other businesses are helping to pay for meals.

It was about four years ago that this adventure began for Gruwell and her English students. After learning that her students did not know what the holocaust was, Gruwell launched them on a reading program whose overarching theme would be tolerance.

Since then, the students have met many writers whose books they have read, among them “Schindler’s List” author Thomas Keneally. They have become pen-pals and friends with the woman who hid Anne Frank’s family, even bringing her out to visit.

Gruwell had the students write their own stories as part of correspondence with a Bosnian teen diarist. Why, she thought, couldn’t my students also write their own book?

Many of the Freedom Writers live with poverty, racism, family violence, learning disabilities and other hardships.

At the very least, unburdening themselves might be therapeutic, and doing it anonymously would make it safe, Gruwell reasoned. The students came to hope that their book might comfort other teenagers feeling alone with similar grievances.

Besides reaching out to fellow youths, they have forged deep friendships with Holocaust survivors. One of them, Gerda Seifer, is among chaperones on the New York trip.