Ready to bring hands-on, high impact science challenges to your classroom?
Join us at North Allegheny School District to discover how Science Olympiad events naturally bring the PA STEELS Standards to life through active student engagement, collaborative engineering design, and real-world problem solving.
Join us on October 1st for our second teacher training of the 2026-2027 school year!
In this hands-on training, you’ll learn:
-Explore how Nazi propaganda (and propaganda throughout history) has been used to spread misinformation, incite hatred, and encourage violence.
-Learn practical strategies for evaluating sources.
-Explore teachable sources: local survivor testimony, Nazi and neo-Nazi propaganda, and online sources
-Gain tools you can use to help students identify misinformation, question sources, and recognize propaganda techniques.
-Leave with greater confidence and strategies.
Participants have the opportunity to earn five Act 48 credit hours.
Who should attend: Anyone teaching through primary and/or secondary sources, especially English/Language Arts and Social Studies teachers
We are offering a virtual attendance option for those who are unable to join us in-person.
Trainers:
Dr. Daniel Singleton holds a PhD in Film and Media Studies and brings more than a decade of experience teaching media history. He has published on Holocaust cinema and has extensive expertise in visual communication and Holocaust studies.
Dr. Calum Matheson is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication and a member of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh. He’s an expert on misinformation and conspiracy theories, drawing on his multidisciplinary teaching and research on propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation.
Intermediate Unit 1 (IU1) invites you to join IU1, schools, and partners from around Southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio on October 20, 2026 from 10:00AM to 1:00PM at the PA Trolley Muesum to celebrate 10 years of innovation and impact at the Annual Innovation Showcase!
The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and EQT Foundation, have awarded over 100 grants since 2017 to southwestern Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and Belmont County Ohio classrooms to expand and support cutting-edge education. The grants seek to encourage school districts, primarily in rural communities, to develop engaging programs and curriculum with innovation and design serving as the driving force behind science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics education.
We hope that you can stop in to explore, learn, and connect with local educational organizations, teachers, and students on how they got a jump start in innovation through the Innovation Grants. Projects cover a wide variety of topics including sustainable agriculture, energy sources, digital design/fabrication, computer science, robotics, math, anatomy, arts and so much more!
The 2026 Future-Focused Learning Summit isn’t a conference about AI. It’s a conference about what school needs to be and how AI changes the equation. AI is both the reason these human outcomes matter more than ever and the tool that can help us deliver on them.
The Future-Focused Learning Summit brings together classroom teachers, coaches, administrators, higher ed faculty, and community partners for a single day built around four outcomes that matter: being known, doing real work, growing through others, and navigating uncertainty. Whether you teach kindergarten or lead a district, you’ll work from the same framework as everyone else in the room.
Sessions are led by practitioners who have done the work. Expect honest conversations about what’s working, what isn’t, and what comes next. Expect to leave with something you can try the following week.
Six learning tracks run throughout the day:
1. Being Known
2. Real Work That Matters
3. Becoming More Together
4. Navigating Uncertainty
5. New Pedagogies
6. Leadership & Operations
The arts have a home here. The four pillars describe what arts educators have practiced for generations. If you’re an arts educator or someone who brings the arts into your practice, you belong at this summit.
The 2027 Three Rivers EdTech Conference (TRETC) is an exciting professional development opportunity to advance the integration of educational technology for teachers, administrators, students, and industry experts in Southwestern PA.
Join us for TRETC: Learning Amplified and engage with thought leaders, educators, and technologists as we uncover the tools and strategies that are revolutionizing how knowledge is constructed. Through feature speakers, professional development sessions, topic-based mini-summits, and an Innovation Hall, participants connect to elevate learning outcomes.
The goal is to leave with at least: One new skill. One big question. One meaningful connection.
TRETC 2027:
Date: Monday, January 18, 2027 (MLK Day)
Time: 8:00 AM-3:00 PM
Location: Fox Chapel School District, Fox Chapel High School, 611 Field Club Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15238
Join out-of-school-time professionals from across Pennsylvania for the 2026 OSTPA Conference, taking place November 5–7 in Pittsburgh! This conference will feature engaging workshops, meaningful networking opportunities, inspiring speakers, and practical resources designed to strengthen and support the OST field. Whether you work directly with young people, lead a program, or advocate for high-quality out-of-school-time opportunities, the conference offers a space to learn, connect, and celebrate our shared work.
Registration is $70 for the full conference or $40 per day.
Curious about joining Dreams of Hope’s theater ensemble? “Try out theatriQ” is your opportunity to check us out!
We are welcoming queer & trans creatives ages 13-26 for our upcoming season (Sept 2026 – April 2027). Applications are due September 10th. See more at dreamsofhope.org/theatriq
2026 is the FIRST EVER Unicorn Palooza. You might be saying, “Why did Assemble wait so long to have such a fun event?” Great question! We decided to remix MakerDate (thank you for all the years) and transform it into something new, like nothing before. Instead of bidding on dates during the live and silent auction, we will be remixing carnival games where folks can “spin the wheel” to land on a learning experience with a local ceramist, welder, writer, or celebrity! Pick up the duck to see if you won tickets to a museum or a charcuterie board! Unicorn Palooza will have plenty of amazing opportunities to connect with creatives, artists, makers, and technologists. Want to sign up to offer a making experience? Fill out our Maker Form here!
The Unicorny Awards
To be announced soon…
In celebrating 15 Years of Assemble, we want to shout-out our gratitude to the folks who have helped Assemble to keep Assemble-ing!
Awards include: Unsung Unicorn, Fabulous Funder, Afrofuturist Activator, and Magical Maker.
Why Unicorns?!
Our mascot, which was designed by Brenna Thummler in 2016, is a Unicorn Robot in Outer Space. From kids to grown-ups, folks love Unicorns – and feel like them too! Do you ever feel like you have something special to share, yet it might not be visible to others? You, too, might be a unicorn.
All funds raised at Unicorn Palooza directly support Assemble’s STEAM education programs for youth, teens, and adults, like Assemble Afterschool, Saturday Crafternoons, Hack the Future, and Summer Camps!
What to expect at Unicorn Palooza:
Carnival Games, featuring a variety of local Makers Experiences (sign up here!)
The inaugural Unicorny Awards
Flash Tattoos and temporary body art
Drinks by WBU
Delicious hors d’oeuvres
Community Cookie Table
Hands-on activities & games made by Assemblers
Green-screen photo booth
Music by DJ
Spectacular fun for a good cause!
Event tickets include drinks tickets + hors d’oeuvres.
All proceeds raised at Unicorn Palooza support Assemble’s STEAM education programs.
Celebrate summer with a mushroom walk at Frick Park with author & mycophile Maria Pinto! Learn some of the basics of mushroom identification, reading the landscape, and traveling at mushroom speed. Seekers of all levels welcome!
Meet us Wed, July 22nd, 4 pm @ Frick Environmental Center & join us post-walk for a cooking demo with foraged mushrooms at the Kingsley Association.
Presented in collaboration with Dreams of Hope, The Black Unicorn Library and Archive Project, and Rainbow Serpent.
NOTE: Spaces are limited, so registration is required. If you need to cancel your ticket, please email us at info[at]dreamsofhope[dot]org so we can give it to someone else
Join us on August 4th the first program in our 2026–2027 series of teacher trainings. Register here.
These trainings are designed for teachers across grade levels and subject areas, whether you are new to teaching the Holocaust and antisemitism or looking to deepen your existing practice. Each session will offer practical guidance, classroom-ready resources, and time to think through common challenges with other educators.
Act 48 credits will be available.
