May 9, 2016 (Sacramento):  Teacher Erin Gruwell, whose work with at-risk teens was depicted in the movie “Freedom Writers,” will appear at John F. Kennedy High School on Friday, May 13, to screen a new documentary that tells what happened to her students after the movie was released.

The event is free and open to the public.

Gruwell’s book about her quest to inspire 150 at-risk students in Long Beach (“The Freedom Writers Diary”) was the basis for a 2007 film starring Hilary Swank. The new documentary, ”Freedom Writers: Stories from an Undeclared War,” follows the students from 1994 through the present day.

In her classroom at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, Gruwell used the writings of Anne Frank to help her students discover a new way of expressing themselves. Gruwell left the school in 1998 but has kept in touch with her students. She is founder of the Freedom Writers Foundation where she currently teaches educators around the world how to implement her innovative lesson plans in their own classrooms.

Gruwell has written two books on teaching, “Teach with Your Heart” and “The Freedom Writers Diary Teacher’s Guide.”

• WHAT: “Freedom Writers” Film Screening with Erin Gruwell
• WHEN:  6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 13
• WHERE:  John F. Kennedy High School, 6715 Gloria Drive, Sacramento, CA 95831