In loving memory
What was planted in sorrow,
we grow in joy.
Sonya Michelle Williams was twenty — a bright, warm-hearted pediatric nursing student who dreamed of caring for children — when she was taken from us on December 28, 1991, in the City College tragedy in Harlem, alongside eight other young lives.
Who we are
We turn Sonya's memory into opportunities for young people and families.
Led by Sonya's brother, Sensei Sonny Williams Jr., the foundation builds health and wellness, confidence, and connection through community events, fundraising, youth karate, and family outreach across New York.
It carries her name so that she — and the eight young people lost with her — are never forgotten.
Rather than let grief have the final word, her family chose growth. The foundation that bears her name keeps her spirit alive the way she lived: caring for others and showing up for her community.
"What was planted in sorrow, we grow in joy."
December 28, 1991 · Nat Holman Gymnasium, City College of New York, Harlem
The City College Nine
On the night of December 28, 1991, thousands of young people came to City College in Harlem for a heavily promoted celebrity charity basketball game. Nearly 5,000 tried to enter a gymnasium built for about 2,700. In a stairwell at the gym doors, the crowd surged into a crush, and nine beautiful young lives, ages 15 to 28, were taken.
They were students, athletes, artists, nurses-in-training, and dreamers. They came out for a night of music and basketball, and they never made it home.
We say their names
- Jabaal Rainey
Age 15 · Harlem - Leonard Nelson Jr.
Age 17 · The Bronx - Laytesha Heard
Age 19 · The Bronx - Dawn McCaine
Age 20 · Brooklyn - Dirk Swain
Age 20 · The Bronx - Yul Dargan
Age 24 · The Bronx - Charise Ann Noel
Age 26 · Brooklyn - Darren Brown
Age 28 · The Bronx - Sonya Williams
Age 20 · New Rochelle · Our namesake
"You will never be forgotten."
Their families still gather, bound by loss and held together by love. All nine names are enshrined on a plaque outside the Nat Holman Gymnasium where they were lost. Every December 28th, their families and community return to Harlem to gather, grieve, and remember — a tradition of love carried on for more than three decades.
Nine seeds were planted in sorrow that night. Sonya's Seeds Foundation exists so that all nine keep growing, in the communities they loved and in every life we touch.
See more
Her light, remembered
Browse photographs of Sonya, shared by her family, in the gallery.
View the gallery →