Graduates create nonprofit organization
Five former track and field athletes give back with Norristown Dreamers
Five Norristown Area High School graduates started the non-profit organization Norristown Dreamers.
Class of 2009 grads Mike and Yahnae Goode, 2010’s Nikole Smith and 2011’s Ikeem Boyd and Tyler Smith started Norristown Dreamers last year. The five, who were on Norristown’s Track & Field team together, created the organization to help seniors transition to college with support and scholarships.
“We’re about helping students transition into their first year of college,” Smith said,
“and definitely giving them the support that is needed to make a successful transition as well.
“Our focus is really helping students with that transition and giving them the support that is needed. One thing about Norristown —we do a great job of getting students into school, but one thing we noticed from our own experiences was being able to have that support or that community to go to to really understand how to successfully navigate the system as well. It’s definitely something different. That’s why we started it — we all shared the same vision and wanted to give back to the community that helped build us.”
Last year the scholarships were awarded to 2019 Norristown grads Dulce Gonzalez and Nicholas Semon.
“They really helped me ease into (the college experience) and have some comfort and more confidence being a first generation college student,” Gonzalez, who is currently attending Penn State, said. “It really helped having support and knowing if I needed help I could always send a text or reach out and call the Dreamers.”
Gonzalez recalled a specific time during winter when Yahnae Goode and Smith helped her out. Gonzalez was
sharing her first-semester experiences with Goode and Smith and was considering changing her major.
“Little by little I was finding that the thing I was doing wasn’t what I wanted to do,” Gonzalez said. “They really gave me a lot of guidance and really helped me out and cleared my head. They let me know what I was doing was OK because that’s where I was doubting myself. They were reassuring me that changing was OK and they provided a lot of help.”
Semon is attending the Pennsylvania College of Technology. He’s had a similar experience with the Norristown Dreamers.
“They are a bunch of great people,” Semon said. “These people really care about the community and all of that and the rich culture Norristown has and really helping the students out, especially financially and any other kind of support. I just dislocated my elbow and I had surgery and they were really supportive of me and asked me, ‘If you need any opportunities with internships or anything in our field of expertise give us a call.’ It’s just a really great group of people trying to help out.
“They helped me a lot. The support they give me and the scholarship itself helped me a lot with the schoolwork. They all chipped in a lot with that and that’s their own pocket money. They really helped me out with school supplies and all that stuff. They’ve been a great help for me.”
If you’re interested in supporting Norristown Dreamers or learning more information, email NorristownDreamers@gmail.com.