November 08, 2012

Media Advisory – ‘Freedom Writer’ Tiffony Jacobs

Tiffony Jacobs, one of the original "Freedom Writers" highlighted in a 2007 movie of the same name will be at Southern Illinois University Carbondale next week.

Jacobs will be on campus at 12:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 12, to participate in an exclusive screening of a new documentary, "Stories From an Undeclared War," that resumes where "Freedom Writers" ended. The event is in the Student Center Auditorium.

Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to the screening and the question-and-answer session with Jacobs that will follow. The event is not open to the public.

The event is for students from the University's College of Education and Human Services, film students from the College of Mass Communication and Media Resources, and a group of Egyptian High School students.

Since summer 2011, the College of Education and Human Services, Continuing Education and Outreach, and Egyptian High School have partnered in an enrichment program that involves faculty and students. In conjunction with the project, Erin Gruwell, the California English teacher whose own students evolved into the Freedom Writers, came to high school and maintains contact. Jacobs, who is one of Gruwell's former students, will share her story.

In a class of 150 at-risk students, Jacobs graduated from high school and like many of her classmates, earned a college degree. Jacobs is outreach coordinator for Freedom Writers Foundation, the organization Gruwell founded. The foundation's website is www.freedomwritersfoundation.org.

For more information, contact Dave Ardrey, director of school partnerships and outreach for the College of Education and Human Services, at 618/924-8218.