May 2026: Celebrating Educators & Their Impact

Highlights

🌷Teacher Appreciation Week

We’re celebrating the incredible educators who make our work possible.

From sparking curiosity to building confidence, teachers create the moments that shape students’ futures every day.

Join us on LinkedIn this week as we highlight and honor educators in our community—and share a story about a teacher who made an impact in your life.

Featured Story

The Legacy Of A High School Math Teacher

Julie Dunkle’s impact as an educator is still being felt decades later—her former students now lead engineering teams at Adobe, oversee UX design at Boeing, and conduct cutting-edge research at Stanford.

A longtime Ignited supporter and former Board President, Julie created a classroom where math came to life through creative projects, real-world experiences, and a strong emphasis on confidence—especially for young women pursuing STEM. It’s not the formulas her students remember most, but the inspiration and belief she instilled in them.

Read more about Julie’s lasting impact.

Coming Soon

Last Call for Experience Weeks!

AI Literacy: Tech & Communication June 8-12

Science in the City June 22-26 (San Francisco)

Semiconductor Secrets July 6-10 (Bay Area)

Circular Bioeconomy July 13-17 (Stanislaus)

Sustainable Solutions July 20-24 (East Bay)

EMWD Water Week July 20-24 (Riverside County)

What's New

Learning Community

Our Learning Community Seminars have wrapped up for the 2025–2026 school year.

Thank you to all who joined us throughout the series!

If you missed our final session, Navigating Professional Growth in the EV Ecosystem: Panel Discussion, you can still catch the recording—click the link to watch.

Supporter Spotlight

The Aerospace Corporation

As we celebrate National Space Day this month, we’re proud to spotlight our long-standing partnership with

The Aerospace Corporation, the nation’s trusted partner solving the hardest problems in space.

Ignited’s partnership with The Aerospace Corporation began in 2011 with two teacher fellowships, making Aerospace the first company to host Ignited fellowships in Los Angeles County.

Since then, The Aerospace Corporation has hosted a total of eight Ignited teacher fellowships focused on real-world applications of science and engineering, and has provided additional funding to support curriculum development and video lessons. Ignited’s Resource Library now features a strong collection of aerospace-inspired lessons on topics such as AI, robotics, satellites, and tardigrades.

Astronaut Luke Delaney recently reminded us of how powerful a teacher's mentorship can be, and on National Space Day we're grateful for The Aerospace Corporation’s partnership in helping Ignited teachers inspire their own future astronauts!

Curriculum Corner

Explore Some of Our Featured Curriculum!

Resource Library

Ignited Recommends

Some Outside Resources and Opportunities!

Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week at Teachers & Tacos on May 8 at Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT)! Join fellow educators to relax, connect, and enjoy tacos while celebrating the amazing work teachers do. Don't forget to RSVP! 🌮

Registration is open for the 5-day Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE) at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. The Complete Series Workshop covers hands-on training in the full Foundations of Biotech curriculum—from micro pipetting and gel electrophoresis to bacterial transformation, colony PCR, and protein purification. June 8-12.

The ASM Materials Education Foundation is offering free STEM professional development for middle and high school educators. Engage your students using simple low-cost experiments and help them discover career opportunities in science and engineering- regi ster today! San Jose, June 22-26.

Applications are open for the Tech Academies Summer Institute (July 20-24) at The Tech Interactive—a one-week immersive experience helping educators bring engineering, design thinking, AI, and STEM into the classroom.

Registration is now open for the 2026 Teacher Research Academy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, offering free, in-person professional development for middle school, high school, and community college educators on topics like energy, drones, AI, and data analytics, June 15-26.

Connecting classrooms to careers

Ignited empowers educators to transform their students’ career trajectories.

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