Using Lego robots and STEM curriculum, The LEDO Project serves as an inspiration and safety net for low-income children and students of color in Portland, Ore., and the surrounding area.
“In situations where school funding no longer includes essential STEM enrichment, Project LEDO serves as a consistent and reliable pillar,” said Cynthia Kieffer, principal of Portland’s Lent Elementary, adding that the program develops teamwork, perseverance and leadership in children.
Others who work with the program echo that sentiment.
“We’ve seen our students become more engaged when they can explore STEM in a supportive, welcoming and encouraging environment,” said Eman Abbas of the Iraqi Arabic School in Lake Oswego.
Project LEDO founder Fidel Ferrer “sparks curiosity, fuels innovation and reminds our KairosPDX leaders that they belong in the world of science, technology, engineering and math,” said Tiffany Dempsey, director of KairosPDX, which provides teacher training and elementary education.
Since Ferrer launched Project LEDO’s first robotics camp with 25 students in 2021, the nonprofit has helped 1,500 children and expanded to provide school supplies, laptops and food to families in need.
For his STEM and community leadership, Ferrer was honored at the GeekWire Awards as STEM Educator of the Year, along with Tracy Drinkwater, founder of the Seattle Universal Math Museum (SUMM). First Tech sponsors this award. Both will be recognized at the GeekWire Awards on May 7 at Seattle’s Showbox SoDo.
Ferrer was inspired to create the LEDO Project by his experience of feeling like an outsider in science and technology. He immigrated to the US from Cuba with a degree in dentistry, then enrolled at Portland State University in 2012, majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology. After working in the lab, he switched to technology and joined Apple.
Especially in college, he said, “I didn’t feel like I had many people like me in that field.
That changed when Ferrer began volunteering at a Portland school with a majority of Black and Hispanic students. Inspired by the experience, he wanted to expand his reach and register as a non-profit organization while still working at Apple in Global Operations & Strategy.
The LEDO project takes its name from “La Edad de Oro,” a book Ferrer’s mother read to him as a child, which translates to “the golden age.” The organization serves children from kindergarten through eighth grade, with a focus on sixth and seventh graders who compete in Lego robotics competitions.
Programming includes summer camps and in-school and after-school sessions throughout the academic year. The organization is also exploring international education partnerships in Cuba, Bolivia and Nigeria.
The LEDO project has seven employees and contract instructors at multiple sites, as well as volunteers who handle the important — if unpleasant — job of sorting through Lego pieces after each robotics season. Most funding comes from individual donors, foundations and corporate sponsorships.
In recent years, Ferrer has also been tapped as a STEM education voice by national and international leaders, including an advisor to Oregon’s STEM Investment Council.
But what makes him happy the most is seeing the students change. At a December Lego robotics competition, Ferrer saw kids who had previously shown little interest in STEM show confidence, poise and cheer on their competitors.
“It inspired me a lot,” said Ferrer. “They were so, so good.”
Astound Business Solutions is the presenting sponsor of the 2026 GeekWire Awards. Thanks also to gold sponsors Amazon Sustainability, Baird, BECU, JLL, First Tech and Wilson Sonsini, and silver sponsors Prime Team Partners.
