Brillantes 2026 & Fellows Program
Summer 2026
Creating Opportunities Through Brillantes
Introduction -
Brillantes! is back, and this time, our Honduran friends are the ones traveling abroad. For years, Manos has collaborated with IEEE and Texas universities to make our Brillantes STEM program possible. Since 2021, Brillantes has brought creative science and math lessons as well as hands-on tech & activities to promote STEM learning in underserved communities in Honduras. For those students that are located in remote rural locations, Brillantes To-Go was created, advancing the scope of our mission. Since then, our mission partners have developed a strong confidence in our initiatives leading to a collaboration with UTSA in 2026 focused on executing the Brillantes program in Castroville, Texas. Following this successful spring break pilot camp, we knew that the next phase in our 2026 plans for Brillantes was ready to be enacted.
Brillantes 2026 Spring Break Camp & Collaboration with UTSA
In 2025, after years of successfully implementing a STEM program through Brillantes, we felt encouraged to take brilliant new steps in the development of our students and collaborators. We had a vision for 2026, that involved bringing Brillantes to Texas, with a new curriculum and teachers alike. Therefore, we created the “Brillantes Fellows Program” experience to enhance our relationships with our university partners and Honduran friends, but more importantly to offer up the successes we’ve experienced to middle school students here in Texas.
With the help of UTSA’s Dr. Araceli Martinez Ortiz, we set out to create a Brillantes experience for students in Castroville, a nearby community in the San Antonio area. Dubbed “San Antonio Brillantes” This 3-day Spring Break camp delivered electrical engineering activities to 7th-8th grade students through the use of robotics and hands-on learning via “Snap Circuits” educational components and “Raspberry Pi” and “Sphero Mini Robot” learning tools. Using these tools as well as concepts from the “Internet of Things”, students got a direct look at the engineering process, the process of developing projects, and integration of algebraic reasoning.
Through the success of this program, Brillantes has discovered a replicable set of curriculum, activities, and fun that brings concepts of electricity, electronics, mathematics, machine learning, and STEM that can be delivered through a variety of academic settings, from urban to rural.
Brillantes Fellows Program:
Following this camp, the next phase of making Brillantes a global success began with the visit of our Honduran professionals and students to San Antonio in order to acquire the knowledge and skills to replicate what was taught at that spring break camp back home in Honduras.
This next phase included:
A “study abroad” experience for 1 Manos backed math teacher from Honduras (Profesora Candy Rodriguez) and 2 Manos Scholarship students (1 Professional Alumnus - Julio Lara and 1 current University Student - Erlin Hernandez) in which they get to experience the culture of their Texas partners by immersing themselves in San Antonio, San Marcos, Canyon Lake and the surrounding areas.
A learning experience with students and experienced mathematics teachers that enhanced their knowledge. By participating in this program, our amigos acquired valuable classroom skills through the mentoring of young students in math, the equipping research based-teaching practices, and hands-on machine learning activities with young students.
An intensive training course at UT San Antonio on the tools and concepts, including “Sphero Mini Robot” offered by Dr. Araceli Ortiz and two Engineering Education graduate students, Travis Campbell and Jeanette Castro, and experienced public school teachers. The purpose of the course was to better enhance their curriculum and create a unique experience for Honduran students that serves not only to better teach students math, engineering, and robotics skills, but develop an aptitude for mathematical concepts through a hands-on approach that is replicable in multiple settings. These hands-on machine learning activities present a different approach in pedagogy that transcends language and learning styles and allows students to participate in real scenarios regarding STEM concepts.
In addition to equipping our visitors with educational tools, this visit also offered a cultural immersion experience and an opportunity for them to meet Manos team members in their own homes and churches in order to continue fostering relationships within the Manos ministry and give all of our supporters the chance to meet the people we serve.
Team Coordination:
Upon the arrival of our Honduran friends - Candy, Julio, & Erlin, many Manos team members, stepped up to make their experience an incredible one that will be hard to forget. A special thanks goes out to the members of Saint Francis by the Lake Episcopal, Manos GOERS past and present including, especially Patricia Perea, Fr. David Chalk, Dean Lalich, Peter “Pedro Frijoles” Baen, Alberto Rodriguez, Mo and Harold Simmons, Colin Besch, Tricia Jones, and Dani Jaime, as well as UTSA and TXST staff including Dr. Araceli Martinez, Dr. Alejandra Sorto,Travis Campbell and Jeanette Castro. Dr. Alejandra opened up her home to host our amigos, living out the basic tenets of our Christian faith by offering hospitality. Thank you Dr. Alejandra and her family! Their collaboration as well as that of many many others helped our visitors feel at home.
Church events at Saint Francis by the Lake and St. Mark’s -
An important part of our Manos journey are our churches and their congregants. By visiting these churches, our amigos brought to life the Manos ministry in a way that many of our supporters had not seen before. They were able to share stories about how the Manos ministry and, in particular the scholarship program, has impacted not only their lives, but those of their families and their community in Honduras. We were all blessed by seeing the kingdom of God come alive in this way.
Cultural immersion experiences in San Antonio, San Marcos, Canyon Lake, Austin & Gruene -
What better way to show the heart of Texas than fellowship in some of our most beautiful hill country locals! From brisket & BBQ to live country music, the State Capitol and the Alamo, they felt welcomed into our part of the world.
Closing -
We would like to thank all of our partners who came together to make this experience a positive one for our Honduran friends. From participating in university classrooms to listening to live music at Gruene Dance Hall, it was an unforgettable time in the lives of our amigos. ¡Gracias!
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