HENAAC started in 1989 with an annual conference which had a pre-college component.  The pre-college program was hosted by NASA Johnson Space Center and spearheaded by then NASA employee, Lupita Armendariz.  

From 1989 - 1998 the pre-college program brought thousands of Houston area high school students to the conference to learn about engineering and science careers.  As the HENAAC Conference moved to new cities such as El Paso, South Padre Island, and Austin, new pre-college programs were developed by HENAAC in partnership with each location's Academic Host University and community partners. 

The University of Texas at El Paso produced exciting programs for hundreds of local students which were held in conjunction with the HENAAC conference on the college campus. The University of Texas, Pan American, in collaboration with HENAAC kicked off the successful HESTEC program in the valley of Texas that to this day, draws tens of thousands to participate.  Finally, members of SHPE Austin Professional Chapter and the University of Texas at Austin started and still run the exciting Un Sabado Gigante in Engineering program that works with local Austin students and parents on the Longhorn campus and is now its own non-profit organization.

While the pre-college programs associated with our conference remain a key component of HENAAC's annual event such as our current collaboration with the Department of Defense and Viva Technology Day, HENAAC planned the development of a new K-12 program that could be offered during the academic year.

The Hon. Victoria Castro, former LAUSD School Board Member, and retired middle school Principal, helped forge  the various components of what would become HENAAC's national Viva Technology Program.

The Viva Technology Program launched with a pilot at Manual Arts High School in south Los Angeles on December 14, 2001.  In 2002, HENAAC began applying for various foundation grants.  The first Viva Technology Programs were funded by bp, State Farm and the Motorola Foundation and quickly followed by NASA, Shell Oil, Lucent, IBM and Chevron, among others.   

Since its inception, the Viva Technology Program has grown to have a national presence, conducting programs in 18 states and touching the lives of over 70,000 students, parents and teachers in the promotion of Science Technology Engineering and Math Careers and Education.