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» » Crete student follows in footsteps of original 'Freedom Writers' in new book - Lincoln Journal Star

Crete student follows in footsteps of original 'Freedom Writers' in new book - Lincoln Journal Star

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Tory Villamonte was a freshman in Paul Smith’s English class at Crete High School when she first learned about the Freedom Writers.

The class was doing a unit on “The Freedom Writers Diary,” the 1999 book co-authored by 150 students — once labeled "at-risk" and "unteachable" — in Long Beach, California, and the teacher, Erin Gruwell, who transformed their lives through writing.

Tory Villamonte

Villamonte

The students called themselves the "Freedom Writers" — a word-play homage to the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Era — and put down in ink their own coming-of-age stories in the form of diary entries.

“It’s a very powerful book. All of the stories are so different and unique,” Villamonte said. “You get to see into all of these people's lives.”

So out of the blue one day last spring, Villamonte decided to try her hand at writing her own entry and shared it with Smith, who loved it.

And it just so happened that Smith, one of hundreds of Freedom Writer teachers across the country, had heard of another project the Freedom Writers Foundation was undertaking in which 50 students from across the U.S. and the world would be chosen to submit a piece in the form of a letter to the original Freedom Writers.

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“Tory’s a writer. She uses writing as her catharsis,” he said. “I just said, ‘Well, let’s take a chance, I’ll ask her and see if she’s interested,’ and she was.”

Dear Freedom Writer cover

"Dear Freedom Writer" will be published later this month.

So Smith reached out to the foundation, which asked to see the essay. They accepted it, and now Villamonte’s writing will be a part of the forthcoming book “Dear Freedom Writer,” which will hit shelves March 29.

Next weekend, Villamonte — the first Freedom Writer from Nebraska — will head to California to take part in a conference coinciding with the book's launch, which will include writers' workshops and a book-signing by the students.

“It’s very exciting,” the 16-year-old sophomore said. “It’s been an amazing opportunity to be able to say I’m a published author.”

Writing has always been a way for Villamonte to express herself. She grew up crafting her own little stories about fantastical worlds populated with silly creatures like talking cats and fairies. She’d write plays to act out with her siblings. Or even comic tales complete with illustrations, like one that poked fun at grown-ups who carried cellphones and sported hairy armpits.

As she’s become older, Villamonte has turned to more real-world subjects in her writing. She draws inspiration from her favorite authors – from young-adult writer Patrick Ness to Jane Austen.

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“When I’m writing fiction, I love being able to make your own world and put it on a document and just to be able to have full control of what happens,” she said.

Rogene Villamonte said it’s “surreal” to see her daughter’s writing get published, but she always knew she would find success.

“I’m just surprised at how early it happened, but I wasn’t surprised that it happened,” she said.

Over the past year, Tory Villamonte has taken part in virtual workshops with her fellow student authors and Gruwell, and even got some editing help from the original Freedom Writers.

The students’ pieces in the book — subtitled “Stories of Hardship and Hope from the Next Generation" — cover a variety of lived experiences, from abuse and racism, to poverty and identity. Villamonte herself wrote about mental health. Since the stories are personal, the authors are left anonymous, just like in the original book.

The Freedom Writers' story started with a lesson. In 1994, Gruwell, then a first-year teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, intercepted a racist note from one of her students. She compared the note to the vitriol and hate that led to the Holocaust, but she was met with blank stares.

So she had her students read Anne Frank’s diary and Zlata Filipovic’s account of growing up in war-torn Sarajevo. The students began keeping their own diaries, and eventually the idea for a book was formed.

Since then, Gruwell has trained teachers — like Smith — to translate the Freedom Writers story into their own classrooms. The Freedom Writers Foundation also sponsors scholarship for students and offers outreach and curriculum for schools.

Smith found out about the program from a mutual friend of his and Gruwell’s, a Holocaust survivor from Omaha who called him up one day and asked if he would want to be a Freedom Writers teacher.

“It was nothing on my radar at all, but it was one of the coolest phone calls I ever received and a life-changer for me,” said Smith.

In 2007, Smith — then a teacher at Lincoln Southeast High School — contributed to the book "Teaching Hope," which told the stories of Freedom Writers teacher and their own struggles in the classroom.

Now years later, Smith is impressed to see a student like Villamonte embrace the "power of the pen" in an age of social media and smart phones.

“She realizes she has a voice and she is encouraged and strengthened to use her voice,” he said. “I’m really proud of her … and that’s something I’m going to hang on to.”

Villamonte is looking forward to in-person meetings with the friends she’s made through the project, including a student in California who she texts frequently.

And while she’s gotten a taste of what the book will look like, she’s also excited to bring home some copies for her friends and families — and she’s going prepared.

“We’re going to have to leave space in our suitcases just to fit the books.”

Contact the writer at zhammack@journalstar.com or 402-473-7225. On Twitter @zach_hammack

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