Catch up with DREAM Scholar alumni

Each year, ATD selects eight DREAM Scholars, exceptional community college students making a difference on campus and in their communities, to participate in an experiential learning opportunity and to share their stories at the conference.

The Scholars are often the highlight of the DREAM experience, especially when they share their stories on the plenary stage to an audience of thousands. After their time at the conference, Scholars often stay connected through a network of support and encouragement — and, of course, they go on to pursue the dreams they shared with the ATD Network.

Three recent DREAM Scholars shared quick updates with us about their lives now, what they remember most from their time at the conference, and what they’re excited to accomplish in the future.

Pedro Moranchel was a 2021 DREAM Scholar attending Hudson County Community College. He was part of the STEM Club at HCCC and participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program at Queensborough Community College as part of his studies.

In a poem he performed to a virtual audience at DREAM 2021, Moranchel talked about finding his passion for mathematics, and finding his purpose in educational equity. His experiences learning about racial inequity in STEM fields helped shape his goals. “I wanted to center myself on STEM, education, and policies — forces of the future, and forces I wanted to be at the forefront of,” he said.

Moranchel graduated from HCCC as valedictorian of his class in spring of 2021 and was one of 16 students to transfer to Princeton University. After a gap year, Pedro is excited to resume his studies in mathematics and expects to graduate in spring 2025.

“As a DREAM Scholar alum, I am consistently humbled by fellow scholars who despite our wide range of complex backgrounds find common ground in using community college to propel ourselves to our high ambitions — which tend to include helping others.”

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Cyan Hite was a 2022 DREAM Scholar and one of two Harvey Lincoln Student Scholars in the same year. During the 2022 conference, they recounted how they walked through the doors of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) as a single parent with three children, and how they connected with scientists and educators. These peers and mentors “planted in me the seeds that shaped my determination to become a teacher,” they said.

Hite graduated from NWTC with an associate degree in lab science in spring 2022 and is now enrolled at St. Norbert College with a double major in natural sciences and secondary education. Their goal is to teach upper-level K–12 science in underfunded schools, where they hope to change the landscape of teaching and learning and to advance racial equity in American education.

“ATD also connected me with individuals that have supported and encouraged me in my personal journey as I transition into the person I have needed me to be, giving me the confidence to carve my own path in order to better support those that follow.”

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Vitória Nogueira shared her story of immigration and perseverance on the DREAM stage last year in Chicago. Despite enrollment and funding challenges, she found “welcoming arms and support” at Housatonic Community College in Connecticut and was even accepted into the 2022 Yale Summer Enrichment Medical Academy.

Nogueira has since transferred to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She was one of 12 students accepted to the Ada Comstock program for nontraditional students, a program which she sees as a good model for universities to recognize and cultivate the talents of DREAM Scholars and similarly motivated community college students.