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…

Thank You, Teachers: KLA Foundation Partners with RAFT to Support Educators

Apr 30, 2024 | Comments Off

In celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week, the KLA Foundation and Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT) will provide all TK-8 teachers at Santa Clara Unified School District and Milpitas Unified School District with a year of RAFT membership and $50 in-store credit to support their…

From Screens to Hands-on STEAM

Feb 28, 2024 | Comments Off

In the wake of a global pandemic that required students to do much of their learning from home in front of a screen, hands-on experiences that spark joy and discovery are more relevant-and needed-than ever. Long before 2020, however, RAFT (Resource Area for Teaching)…

RAFT Puts “Science in Motion” and Launches Course on Infosys Foundation USA’s Pathfinders Online Institute

Feb 7, 2024 | Comments Off

Thanks to a generous donation from the Infosys Foundation USA, RAFT has launched our Science in Motion course on the Pathfinders Online Institute. RAFT’s Science in Motion course explores 10 of our STEAM Project Kits to better understand the concept of motion. Each lesson…

Watch out 2024! RAFT’s Education Team Leadership is expanding with 2 exciting additions

Nov 10, 2023 | Comments Off

If you’ve heard of RAFT before, odds are it’s been in connection with our STEAM Dream Camp or Maker Mobile programming, both of which have been favorites among the SF Bay Area’s student and educator community alike. This year, we’ve seen enormous success in…

A Magical Night to Remember

Sep 25, 2023 | Comments Off

On Wednesday, September 20, 2023, RAFT hosted its annual fundraising event: The Magical Maker Mobile. Over 140 supporters were present at RAFT, which was transformed into a beautiful space for the special event that evening. That evening, we honored the individuals and organizations that…

RAFT Hall of Fame | Class of 2023

Sep 25, 2023 | Comments Off

Congratulations to our 2023 STEAM Teachers of the Year, RAFT Heroes, RAFT Volunteer Awardees, and RAFT Partners of the Year! Thank you for all you do for our educators, students, our community, and RAFT! STEAM Teachers of the Year Michele Huesties STEAM Teacher, Sierramont…