OCTOBER 7 • 2021 | 19

dents and teachers all over the U.S. and 
in more than 12 countries, encouraging 
young people to write, keep journals 
and make films about their experiences 
and how they can combat racism; this 
includes both Israeli and Palestinian 
teachers. Along with Holocaust survivors, 
Gruwell has brought her students face to 
face with survivors of other persecution, 
such as Cambodian and Rwandan refu-
gees, and she has worked regularly with 
the Anti-Defamation League, the USC 
Shoah Foundation, the Simon Wiesenthal 
Center, and even the State Department, 
to promote religious tolerance.
In 2019, Gruwell and her students were 
the subject of an Emmy-award winning 
documentary called Freedom Writers: 
Stories from the Heart that was shown on 
PBS. In spring 2022, Gruwell has a new 
book coming out called Dear Freedom 
Writer.
Gruwell says the new book is some-
what of a call to arms for young people 
around the globe on how to combat 
issues that affect them personally and in 
society. It is written in a Dear Abby for-

mat, with the original Freedom Writers 
answering questions from a new gener-
ation. 
“During COVID, young people faced 
other challenges so social and emotional 
learning issues, depression and anxiety 
were all part of the story,” said Gruwell. 
Then there were the practical logistics 
of gathering data for the book. 

“We were working with kids in the U.S. 
and in a dozen countries, all on Zoom 
and in different time zones,” she said. 
However, despite the obstacles, 
Gruwell is proud of her new book and 
the generations she has inspired. “My 
students like to claim that they have 
become accidental activists,” she said. 

Morocco and applied the ideas and techniques she 
learned in America. They wrote letters back and forth, 
and after two years, Burt came to visit. They loved 
each other more than ever and so they got married in 

Morocco. 
The couple returned to the U.S. and Claire became a 
French teacher, using skills she learned from her NCJW 
year throughout her career. Until Burt’s passing, the 
Sterns had a happy marriage for 58 years and had four 
children. Their son Sheldon Stern is Hornsten’s hus-
band. 
“I am a lifelong member of National Council of Jewish 
Women, Michigan because I believe in the values that it 
stands for, and I am confident I can depend 
on NCJW to advocate for women to create a 
better future for all of us,” Hornsten said. 
Also at the event, The Josephine S. Weiner 
Award for Community Service will be award-
ed to Beverly Stone, a former English teacher, 
middle school principal and assistant school 
superintendent, who has been a long-term 
and passionate volunteer with NCJW|MI. 
Stone also organized an NCJW|MI symposium on 
autism for the community and serves on the advisory 
board of Project Healthy Schools, promoting healthy 
lifestyles for local middle schoolers. 

Erin Gruwell, center, 
with some of her early 
Freedom Writers.

Beverly 
Stone

Rabbi Marla Hornsten, her husband, 
Sheldon Stern, and mother-in-law, 
Claire Stern.

