Southwest Florida · Industry 4.0
He already has the talent.
Fund the pathway.
STEMCAT trains Southwest Florida’s semiconductor technologists, AI and cybersecurity analysts, robotics and advanced-manufacturing engineers, and aviation and uncrewed-systems specialists. Your gift funds scholarships, so cost is never the reason a student stays out. Seats are funded by donors, employers, workforce partners, grants and sponsors. Your investment does not buy a program. It builds the workforce infrastructure this region runs on.
Scholarships available · 501(c)(3) · EIN 47-3761436
The gap is not talent. It is access.
Employers across Lee County cannot fill skilled technical roles. Meanwhile students two miles from those job sites finish high school with no pathway into them. STEMCAT closes that distance.
We start at eight, not eighteen.
It already works
This is not a pilot asking for a chance. STEMCAT has been running the pipeline in Southwest Florida, and the students coming out of it are working in the fields they trained for.
Figures are a snapshot in time. Program-year totals as of August 2026, updated at the close of each session.
Why Our Community Invests
Don’t take our word for it.
These are the jobs Southwest Florida cannot fill. These are the students who could fill them.
Trade imagery shown for illustration. Student photography is our own.
Make your investment
Every gift goes directly into training Southwest Florida students for the skilled technical jobs employers cannot fill. Training is scholarship-based — most costs are covered by donors and partners, though some families may pay a fee.
Choice '27 · Monthly Giving
Prefer to give monthly? Join 270 Choice Builders giving $27 a month so 27 Southwest Florida youth can choose their future.
Become a Choice Builder — $27/monthIt starts long before they choose
By the time most programs reach a student, they have already decided what they are not good at. We get there first.
Youth Programs
Hands-on exposure across every STEMCAT discipline, plus community events and Fieldhouse open houses. No commitment, no pressure — just a young person finding out what grabs them.
Investment Details →Junior Latimer Fellows
For students ready to go deeper: advanced project work, mentorship from working professionals, a summer boot camp, and a direct line into pre-apprenticeship.
Investment Details →STEM Vocation
Pre-apprenticeship on the same equipment employers run — semiconductors, robotics, aviation, and cybersecurity — funded seat by seat through certification and completion.
Investment Details →Youth programs — investment levels
Entry-level ways to equip a student at the exposure stage — grades 3–8.
Ways to give
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Give securely by card or bank transfer through our Bloomerang donation form. Choose “Other” and enter $0.
Pay Online →Payable to I Will Mentorship Foundation. Mail to: 3903 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd #2, Fort Myers, FL 33916.
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Why I am asking
I have watched too many young people in Southwest Florida get told to wait — wait until high school, wait until they are older, wait until someone decides they are ready. Meanwhile the jobs that could change their family’s trajectory go unfilled a few miles away.
We start at eight, not eighteen. We stay until there is a paycheck. And we fund scholarships, because the moment cost enters the conversation, the students who need this most are the first ones out.
That model only works if someone funds it. That is the ask.
Jesse Bryson
Dr. Jesse Bryson · Founder & CEO, STEMCAT
Every gift is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Questions about a major gift, a multi-year commitment, or naming opportunities in the Fieldhouse campaign?
Call (239) 666-8171 or email info@stemcat.org and speak with Dr. Bryson directly.
STEMCAT is a registered DBA of I Will Mentorship Foundation, a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 47-3761436).
3903 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd #2, Fort Myers, Florida 33916
Our sponsorship
STEMCAT is built through partnerships with organizations, businesses, and community leaders investing in the future workforce of Southwest Florida.
These are not just supporters—they are builders of opportunity, believers in this work, and partners helping create the experiences, exposure, and workforce pathways shaping what comes next.
- Lee County
- Suncoast Credit Union
- American Red Cross
- United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades, and Okeechobee
- Fort Myers Police Department
- Goodwill – Pathways to Opportunity
- Colonial Roofing
- Boys & Girls Club of Lee County
