RAFT Blog, News, and Events

Bringing Hands-On STEAM Learning to San Diego Educators

May 18, 2025

RAFT recently had the pleasure of participating in the San Diego STEAM Educators Conference at the University of San Diego from May 16-17. The event brought together hundreds of teachers from across the state committed to advancing STEAM education across Southern California. Nancy McIntyre, RAFT’s new Community Engagement Manager, represented our team at the conference,…

From Honoree to Advocate: A STEAM Award’s Ripple Effect

May 14, 2025

At RAFT, we believe in celebrating educators who bring STEAM to life through hands-on learning. Our STEAM Teachers and Administrators of the Year Awards honor those who go above and beyond-and sometimes, that recognition inspires something even bigger. Just ask Bryan Williams, a past STEAM Teacher of the Year award recipient who later nominated another…

DreamBox Impact Series: Milpitas Unified School District

April 1, 2025

Engaging EL and SPED Learners Through Hands-On STEAM For the past two summers, RAFT has partnered with Milpitas Unified School District to bring hands-on STEAM learning to the district’s Extended School Year (ESY) summer program. This past summer, 230 fourth- through sixth-grade Special Education (SPED) and English Learner (EL) students became environmental engineers-designing water filtration…

Bringing Stories to Life: RAFT’s Intersession Program at Northwood Elementary

March 18, 2025

This winter, Northwood Elementary students in Berryessa School District embarked on a creative journey through RAFT’s three-day Intersession program. Designed to spark imagination and hands-on learning, the program engaged 66 students in grades K-5 in the art of puppet-making, storytelling, and performance, culminating in a special showcase for families. Student-made marionette puppets displayed with crafting…

Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7, 2021 | Comments Off

Saturday, May 8: Do teachers ever fully retire? If you were to ask these teachers they would say no! RAFT relies heavily on volunteers to help make our resources accessible to the education community at low cost. On average around 6,000 volunteers support RAFT…

Thanking RAFT Volunteers: Jean and Wayne

Apr 27, 2021 | Comments Off

For 27 years, volunteers have played an important role at RAFT. Because of our volunteers, RAFT is able to make our resources available to the education community for affordable prices. An example of volunteers playing an important role at RAFT is Jean and Wayne…

Remembering Charles Geschke: Adobe Founder and RAFT Hero

Apr 22, 2021 | Comments Off

It is with deep sadness that RAFT marks the passing of Dr. Charles “Chuck” M. Geschke, co-founder of Adobe and RAFT STEAM Hero. Dr. Geschke founded Adobe with Dr. John Warnock in 1982 and changed how we share, create, and interact with information forever. …

Engineering Design Challenge: Leprechaun Trap

Apr 6, 2021 | Comments Off

Students engage in engineering challenges created and facilitated by RAFT staff that take advantage of household materials and/or use RAFT supplied materials. Challenges can be live or asynchronous. RAFT will showcase student design solutions on our social media platforms. This is a great way…

Lagunita STEAM Night Highlights

Apr 6, 2021 | Comments Off

The Virtual STEAM Night at Lagunita Elementary School (Salinas, CA) held on Thursday March 4, 2021 was a really great event! Nearly 100 families participated in a 1-hour STEAM lesson focused on RAFT’s Car on a Roll STEAM project kit. Students assembled the cars…

RAFT Stands in Solidarity with the AAPI Community

Mar 24, 2021 | Comments Off

RAFT is heartbroken by the violent, racist attacks against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. The latest attacks are only the most recent examples of a horrifying increase in harassment and violence against the AAPI community, largely fueled by divisive, xenophobic sentiments.…