Local Hero: Dorien Simon
Dorien Simon is a Lakes High School alum and current senior at Stanford University. He is also a former member of the Lakewood Youth Council.
Dorien is a NCAA Division I track athlete, pursuing a degree in computer science and is a freelance web developer for small businesses and start-ups.
Dorien spent the last 2.5 years working with CodeHouse, a nonprofit organization providing a pipeline for underrepresented students of color to occupy space in the tech world.
Once he earns his bachelor’s degree this spring, Dorien will begin working as a forward deployed engineer at Palantir in Seattle.
National Heroes: Alpha Phi Alpha’s “Seven Jewels”
Lovingly known as the “Seven Jewels”, these leaders are Henry Callis, Charles Chapman, Eugene Jones, George Kelley, Nathaniel Murray, Robert Ogle and Vertner Tandy.
Together these young men comprise the founding members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first all-Black fraternity in the United States.
These esteemed founders’ efforts led to the establishment of additional Black fraternities and sororities across the country, seeking to cultivate strong bonds of brotherhood and unity amongst Black men and women and their communities.
Hidden Heroes serves to educate our community about the accomplishments and contributions of local, national and international African American and Black leaders. The city of Lakewood’s MLK Committee launched Hidden Heroes in 2019 in cooperation with the Clover Park School District. New leaders are celebrated each week now through February, Black History Month.
