It was a banner year in 2016 for creative writing teacher Precious Symonette. But if you ask her, she’s just getting started.

The Miami Norland Senior High teacher has for the past four years overseen the Viking Freedom Writers, a traveling creative writing and performance troupe inspired by the nonfiction book, “The Freedom Writers Diary,” written by The Freedom Writers and their teacher, Erin Gruwell. In the program, student of hers from at-risk neighborhoods write instead of fight, using pens and their voices rather than drugs and guns.

During the summer, Symonette launched the next step of her vision. At the urging of Gruwell, she brought her program to the college level with the Florida Freedom Writers Foundation. Joining her were former students now in college, some of whom—Joyce Morin, Jazzline Vergara, Andrew Ruby, Adonis Valdez, Alexandre Sparks, William Gordon and Anthony Miley—remained together at Barry University to continue working with her as teaching artists.

“They told me, ‘We want to stay and help other students to do what we’ve been doing in the Viking Freedom Writers, because it’s empowering; it changed our lives,’” said Symonette. “The fact that they wanted to stay local to help me with the foundation spoke volumes of them. It’s amazing.”

The Florida Freedom Writers have worked with United States Attorneys Office, the Juvenile Justice System and several other entities to hold performances and workshops for schools, colleges and various educational and charitable organizations throughout Florida and in parts of Georgia and Chicago. They regularly perform and volunteer in their community. Recently, the group appeared before approximately 3,000 people at the Florida Education Association Delegate Assembly.

“We show students that you don’t have to turn to negativity, guns, gangs—those types of things—to bring significance to your life,” she said. “You can do something positive and productive and use your stories as opportunities to motivate and empower yourself to do better things.”

One of five finalists from close to 200,000 entrants last year in the running for Florida Teacher of the Year, the 12-year educator was bestowed the Miami-Dade County 2017 Francisco R. Walker Teacher of the Year Award, the National Education Association Superhero Educator Award and has twice won Teacher of the Year at Miami Norland Senior High. Recently, she was named a Top Black Educator by Legacy South Florida.

“It was a blessing for me to be named teacher of the year for my district, state and to have a national award,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I do it for the testimonies. The fact that I get to teach how I want to teach because I studied and have the experience—not to mention the support of my great principal, Reginald Lee—is breathtaking. Being able to stand back in the crowd and see my students blossom on stage, in workshops or just in conversation is truly fulfilling for me. I have awards that are tangible and ones that aren’t, which are the ones I seek.”

Symonette, who grew up in a single-parent household in Hallandale, Florida, always wanted to be a teacher. Some of her earliest memories involve dressing up in her mother’s clothes and playing teacher to a classroom of stuffed animals. She previously taught at Charles R. Drew Middle School. Before that, she worked as a travel writer while pursuing her writing degree.

To date, more than 450 students have gone through the Vikings Freedom Writers program and have gone on to published their work and performed spoken word poetry. Most plan to give back to their community and inspire others to live by her motto: “Write yourself into existence.”

“I’m a firm believer that students need empowerment, to know that people want to hear what they have to say on a never-ending basis,” she said. “They need someone to show them how to be positive and productive when they’re telling their story, because if they get to the point where they are not able to voice their opinions, unfortunately, they’ll feel that the only way they can get attention is by being violent, unproductive and disrespectful, and I never want that for them.”

For more information, visit www.FloridaFreedomWriters.com.