Wall of Fame: One Teacher, One Class, and the Power to Save Schools and Transform Lives

As public education declined many Americans despaired of their children's future, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jonathan Freedman volunteered as a writing mentor in some of California's toughest inner-city schools. He discovered a program called AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) that gave him hope. In this work of creative non-fiction, Mr. Freedman interweaves the lives of AVID's founder, Mary Catherine Swanson, and six of her original AVID students over a 20-year period, from 1980-2000. With powerful personalities, explosive conflicts, and compelling action, Wall of Fame portrays the dramatic story of how one teacher in one classroom created a pragmatic program that has propelled thousands of students to college. This story of determination, courage, and hope inspires a new generation of teachers, students, and parents to fight for change from the bottom up.

It will be possible to learm more about AVID and the Wall of Fame from the September 25th issue of Time magazine and upcoming segments of Oxygen and perhaps 60 Minutes II.

Jonathan Freedman has received many honors for his editorials and books, including a Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Editorial Writing and the Distinguished Service Medal from the Society of Professional Journalists. Esquire magazine included Mr. Freedman in its special Hero Nation issue, honoring his work as a writing mentor of inner-city students.

Mr. Freedman graduated cum laude from Columbia College, where he was awarded the Cornell Woolrich Writing Award. At age 23, he began his writing career as an Associated Press reporter in Brazil. In his thirties, he worked as an editorial writer and columnist for the San Diego Tribune. Freedman's Pulizter Prize-winning editorials were instrumental in the passage of the U.S. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, including an historic amnesty that brought more than two million undocumented workers out of hiding. He is the author of the critically acclaimed non-fiction book From Cradle to Grave: The Human Face of Poverty in America, and has published freelance columns in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angles Times, and the San Diego Union-Tribune.