Ignited’s annual Spark the Future Celebration is the culmination of our 8-week summer teacher professional development program. Each year, we immerse teachers from underserved schools in paid summer fellowships at STEM-focused companies and universities, including Meta, Amazon, X, Stanford University, and many more. Our teachers work with their corporate mentors on real-time projects alongside top professionals in their field to gain invaluable insights into the modern workplace. They also work closely with a curriculum coach to create an industry-relevant lesson plan, bridging the gap between industry and classroom for their students. 

We have aptly titled the culmination event "Spark the Future," as we host an evening for our teachers, corporate mentors, and funders to come together to share stories about everyone's experience and hear from both the educational and corporate sides about plans to positively impact students and their future careers.

The celebration is particularly important this year to show appreciation for our incredible teachers who have been overworked throughout the pandemic and still chose to dedicate their summer vacation to professional development. After years of figuring out how to meaningfully educate children over Zoom, grappling with what in-classroom and hybrid learning looks like post-pandemic, and navigating ever-changing mask and testing requirements--teachers have proven that they really are the superheroes we suspected them to be all along. We're excited to recognize their achievements and show them what they mean to our community.