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• By Stephanie Garcia, Ph.D. & Jeff Wheatcraft • IDRA Newsletter • April 2026 •

On a special day in February, the lights at Northeast Lakeview College’s Paluxy Hall rose to illuminate tables in hallways and empty classrooms, ready to be filled with the excitement and conversation of exchanging ideas and information. IDRA and the Alamo STEM Ecosystem, which IDRA co-leads, brought together hundreds of teachers and pre-service teachers for a free, one-day conference dedicated to STEM excellence in the classroom.

With the theme “Moonbeam: Illuminating Pathways to STEM,” sessions engaged participants in hands-on, practical experiences that fostered collaboration, with educators able to take what they learned back to their classrooms or programs.

Teachers received continuing education credits as they collected classroom strategies and lesson ideas and connected with local industry resources.

The morning opened with a keynote by Ryan Saavedra, B.S., CEO & founder of Alt-Bionics, which is transforming the fields of prosthetics and humanoid robotics with cutting-edge, yet affordable bionic hands. He spoke about his journey from not being a “good student” to earning a degree in electrical engineering with a dual focus in control systems and electromyographic interfaces. He has melded his technical expertise with a passion for harnessing technology to improve the lives of others.

He shared that, as a college student, when an injury while rock climbing led him to worry if he would lose the injured finger, he asked himself, “What if I built my own finger?” That question propelled him forward.

“The biggest advice that I always give students is just: Ask questions,” said Saavedra. “And for teachers, I would say just reward more questions. A lot of us feel stupid when asking questions. But if I didn’t have that [encouragement], it would have been a different journey for me.”

The sessions that followed were engaging and, most importantly, hands-on. As part of creating a place of learning where teachers can take what they have gained and immediately implement it into their classrooms, we wanted to ensure that presenters modeled this most important part of the learning experience.

“A lot of us feel stupid when asking questions. But if I didn’t have that [encouragement], it would have been a different journey for me.”

– Ryan Saavedra, CEO & Founder of Alt-Bionic

The sessions were selected based on a variety of criteria but, most importantly, they needed to engage the teachers the same way we want the teachers to engage the students, with hands-on, minds-on learning. Sessions covered a wide variety of topics, including robotics and coding, science and engineering, AI, and pathways to careers in STEM.

One session had a panel of industry leaders and a second panel led by students. When asked the one thing teachers can do differently regarding STEM education, one student said: “Through my experience, I realized that hands-on activities really motivate students to pursue a STEM path. Also, it helps them retain the information more than doing tests over and over.”

First-generation college students understand what it means to navigate systems that are not always built for you. This conference is what systems-level impact looks like.

And as former middle school teachers, we know how powerful representation and access can be, especially in equipping educators to open doors for students who may not see themselves in STEM. IDRA is proud to serve as the institutional anchor for this conference each year.

Participants described their key takeaways from the conference:

• “STEM is the future!”
• “Different ways to reach your students to enrich their learning.”
• “Real-world connections to strengthen student understanding.”
• “Making STEAM more accessible.”
• “Great engaging STEM activities for my students!”
• “Why AI is important and how it can support us educators.”
• “My biggest takeaways were how powerful early exposure and real-world connections are.”

Rather than focusing only on middle and high school grades, a unique component of the conference was our attention to STEM for our youngest students.

“Through my experience, I realized that hands-on activities really motivate students to pursue a STEM path. Also, it helps them retain the information more than doing tests over and over.”

– Student panelist

One teacher said, “I saw new ideas of approaching STEM subjects in the Pre-K setting.” Another commented, “There are a variety of resources available to students in all grade levels.”

This tells us how invaluable teachers see our collective efforts to build bridges, harness unique collaborations, support inquiry-based and inclusive learning approaches, and strengthen school-community partnerships.

With nearly 300 registrants, this educator-serving event impacts 26,000 students served by the conference attendees.

We value our teachers, who lead this work in schools across our city every day. There is an urgent need for us to continue showing our support and investing in our community through this annual event.

Each year, this event draws incredible support from sponsors who believe in us. We are thankful to our co-chair, Northeast Lakeview College, for serving as our host and premier sponsor.

Organizations participating in the exhibition came from a variety of fields and industries, including ASE partners like Girls Inc., Southwest Research Institute, and Students of Service (SOS) San Antonio. Other exhibitors included SeaWorld San Antonio, Bat Con, Natural Bridge Caverns and iFly.

We are also grateful for our signature sponsors: the Alamo AFCEA Education Foundation, TX FAME (Lone Star Chapter), JCB, and the Wheatcraft Project, for sponsoring food, donating swag bags and conference materials. They also led panels and workshops for our educators.

In a time when budget cuts, teacher shortages and other systemic barriers are increasing, we need to collectively focus on equitable access to STEM pathways. This work cannot be accomplished in silos, which is why we need this conference more now than ever. This work is mission-driven and community-rooted. IDRA supports the backbone of this conference because building strong, equitable ecosystems is part of IDRA’s mission.

If you are interested in joining forces with us for the 2027 Alamo STEM Ecosystem Educator Conference (date to be determined), please contact us and join our steering committee.

Stephanie García, Ph.D., is IDRA’s STEM education specialist and directs IDRA VisionCoders and co-directs the Alamo STEM Ecosystem on IDRA’s  behalf (stephanie.garcia@idra.org). Jeff Wheatcraft is an IDRA consultant (jeff.wheatcraft@idra.org).

FAQs
What is the Alamo STEM Ecosystem Educator Conference?
The annual conference is a free IDRA event that brings together teachers and pre-service educators for hands-on STEM learning, classroom strategies and industry connections.

How does the conference support teachers?
Teachers gain practical lesson ideas, continuing education credits, new STEM resources and strategies they can use right away in their classrooms.

Why does this conference matter for students?
By helping teachers create engaging, inclusive STEM learning experiences, the conference expands opportunities for more than 26,000 students.

What makes the conference unique?
It emphasizes hands-on, inquiry-based learning, representation, industry partnerships and STEM access for students from pre-K through high school.

[© 2026, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the April edition of the IDRA Newsletter. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]