In mission integration, no one builds an entire spacecraft alone. Engineers work at the interfaces, where independently built systems come together to do what none could accomplish on their own, asking three questions of every part: Does it have the right form? Will it fit? Will it function in the real world? Joan Melendez Misner, Space Mission Integration Engineer, brings that same lens to teaching. Every educator builds one subsystem of a student they may never see fully assembled. Drawing on her journey from Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, to integrating flagship missions such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and Dragonfly, Joan reframes resilience as the work that happens at the seams—where every connection is a chance to build something stronger. Attendees will leave with practical suggestions for turning setbacks into persistence, and a clear way to connect courses to students’ futures, including a practical perspective on the educator’s role in developing AI-capable humans. This keynote is for higher education professionals across all disciplines who are quietly engineering the humans who will reach orbit.