The IDEA Center, located on Ventura Ave. near De Anza Academy of Technology & the Arts (DATA), offers the STEMbassadors program, a nonprofit organization centered around creative expression and the learning of manufacturing technologies. 

The program was opened in July 2022 and offers classes that can help people learn different skills, from 3D printing to laser cutting and and everything in between. The program has reached over 4,000 students and has amassed sponsors like Rotary International, Sensata Technologies and others. 

Many members of the IDEA Center come from DATA. These students started to come to the IDEA Center due to the Makerspace program at DATA and the STEMbassadors program being run by the same teacher, Alex Wulff, who is a core member and leader of the programs. He has also started an continued expansion of both programs.

Much like Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech)’s DTECH Academy, the STEMbassadors program has an array of technologies. The IDEA Center offers equipment such as 3D printers, CNC routers, CO2 laser cutters and fiber lasers that can make goods out of materials such as plastic, metal and wood. Equipment such as weaving looms and wood shop machinery can help refine more hands-on skills. The center also includes machines like DTG printers and vinyl cutters that allow people to turn their art into stickers and clothing.

The IDEA Center is still expanding their technologies so there will be even more to offer, and those in the program will even be taught how to build and assemble some of these machines. People in the program learn to put together a variety of tools, most of them being 3D printers and types of wood or metal engravers and cutters.

The program offers free access to students in Ventura Unified School District (VUSD), including students from DATA, Cabrillo Middle School, Buena High School, Foothill Tech and many more schools. It is also accessible through membership with individual or family plans, though for those who are not willing to make such a large commitment, they also offer day passes and classes.

The program’s goal is to allow kids to develop skills and provide scholarships that will help them express their creativity without physical boundaries such as a lack of materials or machinery that might prohibit them from expressing themselves.

Furthermore, the STEMbassadors program seeks to expand and improve technologies to provide opportunities for those near and far who want to learn how to use these machines.