zSpace Partners with Eight Million Stories to Reignite Hope and Break Barriers for At Promise Youth
Immersive Career Exploration and Skill-Building Technology Helps Formerly Incarcerated and Disconnected Students Unlock Their Potential
SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- zSpace, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZSPC), a leading provider of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) solutions for education, today announced a partnership with ., a nonprofit organization founded to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Through immersive, hands-on learning, technology is helping formerly incarcerated and disconnected youth close academic gaps, explore career pathways, and rebuild confidence in their futures.
Since its founding in 2017, Eight Million Stories has focused on serving students who have experienced incarceration or disengagement from traditional schooling. Many arrive having faced significant barriers to re-entry into community schools and limited access to high-quality, individualized education.
Through , students are gaining hands-on exposure to career pathways including healthcare, automotive technology, gaming, and other high-demand fields. The immersive experiences are designed to help learners explore interests, develop critical thinking skills, and connect classroom learning to real-world opportunities.
“Many of our students have not had positive educational experiences,” said Marvin Pierre, Co-Founder and Executive Director of 8 Million Stories. “By leveraging innovative programs like zSpace, we are not only closing academic skill gaps — we are reigniting hope. We’re giving young people the opportunity to explore their interests, discover their gifts, and envision a future they may not have seen for themselves before.”
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Individualized Learning That Builds Self-Sustainability
8 Million Stories pairs personalized instruction with immersive technology to create individualized pathways toward meaningful employment and self-sustainability. Through career exploration modules, students can investigate multiple industries in a single week — helping them identify interests and begin mapping out tangible next steps.
The organization believes access to high-quality educational tools is foundational to breaking cycles of generational poverty and justice involvement.
“Every young person deserves the chance to chase their dreams,” said Pierre. “When students can explore five different careers in a week and say, ‘I want to learn more about this,’ that’s powerful. That’s education doing what it was designed to do.”
Unlocking Genius Through Immersive Learning
zSpace’s interactive solution allows students to engage in experiential learning that supports skill development in STEM, healthcare, and career and technical education (CTE). For students who may struggle in traditional lecture-based settings, immersive learning provides an alternative pathway to mastery and engagement.
By integrating zSpace into its programming, 8 Million Stories aims to:
- Close academic skill gaps
- Increase career awareness and workforce readiness
- Improve student engagement and persistence
- Support successful reintegration into education and employment pathways
Together, the partnership reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to innovative educational opportunities for learners who have historically been underserved.
About Eight Million Stories
Eight Million Stories is a Houston-based 501(c)(3) organization that empowers at-promise youth and young adults (ages 9-24) through education, skills training, and transformative relationships. Since 2017, they have helped thousands of students earn high-school credentials, secure employment and build brighter futures.
About zSpace
zSpace, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZSPC) delivers innovative augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) experiences that drive achievement in STEM, CTE, and career readiness programs. Trusted by over 3,500 school districts, technical centers, community colleges, and universities, zSpace enables hands-on "learning by doing" experiences proven to improve engagement and student outcomes. Headquartered in San Jose, California, zSpace holds more than 80 patents, with research published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2021) validating the impact of 3D virtual reality technologies on student knowledge gains.
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