Chapter VIII, Senior Year - Spring 1998 Summary and Analysis

This final semester starts off with a bang when the Freedom Writers come back to school after Christmas vacation with the news that they won the Spirit of Anne Frank Award. The book states that the award honors "those who have followed the courage of their convictions to step forward and actively confront anti-semitism, racism, prejudice and bias related violence in their community" (222). The catch however, is that the Freedom Writers must accept the award in person, and they must arrive in New York within the next few days.

What was unusual about this award is that the Anne Frank Center will only award the prize to individuals. However, since the Freedom Writer application was so "amazing," they ultimately garnered the award.

While they were scheduled to visit New York, Gruwell...