There are conferences built around tools.
And then there are conferences built around people.
NYSCATE 2025 was the latter — a gathering of educators, innovators, librarians, technologists, and leaders who didn’t come searching for the newest gadget… they came searching for meaning.
Walking through NYSCATE last week, sitting in conversations, recording interviews, listening to presentations, and stopping in those unscripted hallway moments, something became impossible to ignore:
New York’s educators are ready to build the future of learning.
They simply need the structure, community, and support to do it.
Every voice we captured — from first-year teachers to superintendents to CTOs to librarians — echoed the same quiet insistence:
Tech isn’t the point.
Humanity is.
And that is where Thinkering lives.
Technology Isn’t the Point — Humanity Is
The most striking pattern across the interviews we recorded was how little educators cared about the next shiny tool. What they cared about was the human moment behind it.
They weren’t asking:
“What app should I use?”
They were asking:
“How do I make students feel seen?”
“How do I use AI to deepen relationship, not distract from it?”
“How do I build learning experiences that matter?”
This is the heart of Thinkering’s mission and the foundation of our Fellowship:
Technology is valuable only when it amplifies connection, identity, curiosity, and purpose.
NYSCATE didn’t teach us this — it confirmed it.
Educators Are Dreaming Beyond Their Systems
One of the most beautiful revelations from NYSCATE was the sheer visionary range of educator imagination.
When we asked, “What would you build if nothing stood in your way?” the answers were breathtaking:
community-designed learning labs
AI-supported student storytelling
VR empathy walks
AR cultural maps
student-run media studios
restorative tech experiences
identity-affirming learning spaces
Everyone had a dream project.
Almost no one had the structure to pursue it.
The limitation was never imagination.
It was bureaucracy, time, funding, and isolation.
NYSCATE showed us that the ideas are alive and waiting — educators simply need a pathway to build, iterate, and scale them.
That pathway is the Thinkering Fellowship.
Community Is the Catalyst
Conferences often talk about community; NYSCATE showed it.
And much of that community-led energy was shaped by Thinkering Mentor Laurie Guyon, who helped orchestrate the event with her signature combination of joy, expertise, and generosity. Laurie didn’t just help lead with some of the conference organizing — she helped set its culture of openness, curiosity, and collaboration.
Her presence reminded everyone of a truth Thinkering holds close:
mentorship is the multiplier of innovation.
At the Thinkering media booth, that spirit continued through Garrett Wilhelm, our Possibility Architect, who ran a nonstop “man on the street” interview studio. Garrett captured dozens of raw, honest educator reflections that became the heartbeat of the booth — a space where people felt safe to dream out loud.
Innovation didn’t come from scripted presentations.
It came from conversation.
It came from connection.
It came from educators recognizing themselves in one another.
NYSCATE made visible what we’ve always known:
community is not a luxury — it is the catalyst.
What NYSCATE Revealed About AI — and About Us
While AI threads ran through nearly every session, the tone was notably grounded and optimistic. The educators we spoke to weren’t fearful or naive — they were thoughtful, curious, and deeply human in their approach.
They weren’t asking, “How do I use AI?”
They were asking, “What does AI allow me to do that I couldn’t before?”
They imagined AI that:
reduces administrative burden
expands multilingual access
elevates student voice
supports culturally rooted learning
opens time for connection and feedback
helps students tell better stories
The message was consistent:
AI must expand humanity, not diminish it.
That alignment — cautious optimism paired with courageous imagination — is exactly the kind of work Thinkering Fellows take on. They pilot meaningful uses of emerging tech through a human lens.
NYSCATE affirmed that the field is ready for this next chapter — the chapter where AI becomes a tool for empathy, creativity, and agency.
The Question Beneath Every Conversation
Across interviews, we noticed something deeper emerging — a pattern not about tech, but about purpose.
Educators weren’t trying to optimize.
They were trying to reconnect.
To their mission.
To their students.
To their belief that learning can mean something again.
One superintendent said,
“Some days, I feel like I’m just trying to keep the roof from collapsing. I want to build something incredible — I just don’t know where to begin.”
One classroom teacher whispered,
“I know what I want to create. I’ve just never had permission.”
A librarian told us,
“If I could follow my ideas instead of my paperwork, my kids’ world would change.”
NYSCATE made one thing undeniable:
Educators don’t need more training.
They need trust, time, support, and a path to build their dreams.
That is the precise reason the Thinkering Fellowship exists.
Spotlight: New York Thinkerers in Attendance
Kim Rich — Thinkerer Fellow | Silver Creek Schools
Kim’s Growing Solutions project embodies the NYSCATE spirit: a neglected garden transformed into a living cultural, ecological, and storytelling ecosystem. Students design the space, research sustainable planting, create bilingual English/Seneca signage, and document their learning digitally.
This is what human-centered innovation looks like:
rooted in identity, connected to community, driven by students.
Laurie Guyon — Mentor, Leader
Laurie’s leadership shaped more than the conference schedule — it shaped the tone of the entire event. Her mentorship exemplifies what the Thinkering ecosystem is built on: listening, lifting, and unleashing.
Garrett Wilhelm — The Possibility Architect in the Field
Garrett’s on-the-ground media work captured the heart of NYSCATE. His interviews surfaced educator dreams, frustrations, insights, and possibilities — offering a real-time snapshot of what the education impact engine sounds like when it’s running on authenticity.
Evin Schwartz — Founder
Our founder, Evin Schwartz, presented the Thinkering mission, unveiled the new moonshot goal, and demoed Fellowship impact model to NYSCATE educators — and the response was electric. Evin spoke directly to educators’ desire to lead systemic change from the inside out, reminding the field that transformation starts with people, not policy.
He challenged educators to imagine schools where creativity isn’t an afterthought, where technology amplifies humanity, and where every educator has the support to build what they believe in.
NYSCATE did not just hear the Thinkering mission — they felt it.
Moving From Insight to Action
NYSCATE wasn’t an event we attended.
It was a call to action.
And here’s what we’re doing with what we learned:
We’re creating new models that integrate tech with empathy.
We’re telling richer stories of educators leading from the ground up.
We’re expanding our fellowship network of mentors, innovators, and partners.
We’re developing new funding pathways so Fellows can build without delay.
We’re capturing impact in ways that influence local and national conversations.
We’re building systems where humanity leads innovation — not the other way around.
The Fellowship isn’t about improvement.
It’s about transformation.
About rediscovering the “why.”
About building what comes next.
About refusing to wait for permission.
The Future We’re Building Together
The future of learning isn’t uncertain.
It’s emerging.
In gardens and makerspaces.
In AR cultural maps and AI storytelling.
In library-centered community hubs.
In digital journals that honor identity.
In hallway conversations at NYSCATE.
In the courage of educators who still believe in what’s possible.
Thinkering exists for them.
For you.
For the people who are ready to be architects of what comes next.
If NYSCATE showed us anything, it’s that the spark is alive.
And when educators gather in community, that spark becomes a signal.
A signal that says:
We’re not waiting for the future.
We’re building it. Together.
