RAFT Blog, News, and Events

🏆 RAFT Wins Double Gold in Bay Area Parent’s 2025 Best of the Best Awards!

July 29, 2025

RAFT is proud to announce that our STEAM Dream Summer Camp has been awarded Gold in two categories in Bay Area Parent Magazine’s 2025 Best of the Best Awards: 🥇 Best Day Camp – Silicon Valley 🥇 Best Science & Technology Camp – Silicon Valley This exciting recognition reflects the strength and impact of RAFT’s…

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…

Campbell STEAM Showcase 2018

Apr 3, 2018 |

The enthusiasm was infectious March 28th on the grounds of Monroe Middle School! Everywhere parents, students, and teachers from Campbell Union School District explored and celebrated student innovation and creativity in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) at this year’s STEAM Showcase…

Women’s History Month: Women in Chemistry! Marie Skłodowska Curie, “Madame Curie”

Mar 19, 2018 |

Marie Skłodowska Curie, “Madame Curie,” was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person, and only woman to win twice, the only person to win a…

Celebrating Women’s History Month: Women in Biology Meet Barbara McClintock

Mar 10, 2018 |

In honor of Women’s History Month, it is fitting to pay tribute to the woman who is considered one of the greatest biologists of the twentieth century! Barbara McClintock (1902–1992) was an American scientist and cytogeneticist who focused on color mosaicism in maize, or corn, during…

Turn Daylight Savings Time into a Teachable Moment

Mar 5, 2018 |

Don’t lose sleep over this, but Daylight Savings Time (DST) is here! On March 11th it’s time to set your clocks forward and say goodbye to one hour of sleep! There’s no time to waste! Make this year’s Daylight Savings Time an engaging and…

Are you ready for Pi?

Feb 27, 2018 |

Time to get ready fer Pi Day at RAFT me hearties! Set yer compasses an’ sails fer FREE Pi Day activities on March 8th between 3:30 to 5:30 on th’ main poop deck (aye-aye in th’ “Kit Area”) at SJ RAFT! RAFT’s very own…

Orchard Students Turn RAFT Materials into Safer Wind Turbines for Birds

Feb 9, 2018 |

Ten third graders and twelve fourth graders in Kathleen Gould’s class at Orchard School District know to turn to RAFT when making creative design solutions! They’ve been on a 17-day Design Challenge journey studying how wind turbines kill hundreds of thousands of birds each…