On October 6, 2025, the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation announced awards of $73,500 in funding to 10 organizations and programs to improve K-12 STEM education. 

1. $2,000 to San Diego Architectural Foundation for Built Environment Education Program
San Diego Architectural Foundation (SDAF) will introduce the Crossing the Line: KidSketch Virtual Workshop Program, a Built Environment Education Program initiative, to San Diego children and their families from 2025-2026. KidSketch incorporates Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and  mathematics (STEAM) concepts, including geometry and graphic design, to teach future generations about the built environment. Through KidSketch, kids of all ages are introduced to the benefits of hand sketching. By sketching their surroundings, kids not only engage their motor skills, patience, and hand-eye coordination but also learn to observe and understand the built environment around them. KidSketch is open to all ages, but SDAF has found that children aged six through twelve, accompanied by their families, are ideal for the program. Hosted monthly on a Saturday morning throughout the year, when many families can learn together.  The goals are to introduce at least 150-180 young people through ten-to-twelve virtual workshops in 2025-2026 to the built environment and promote architecture/ urban planning as career options to young people who are not represented in the fields. SDAF utilizes an electronic communication tool to alert partner organizations, such as A Reason to Survive (ARTS) in the South Bay, the local chapter of the National Association of Minority Architects, the USO, and local Title I schools, to encourage sign-ups. The public finds SDAF through SDAF.org and social media platforms.

2. $2,500 to Classics 4 Kids for their Maritime Science Concert Series
This upcoming 2025–2026 school year, Classics 4 Kids will present a STEAM-themed concert series that connects music, maritime science, San Diego Bay history, and visual art. Pending partnerships with the San Diego Museum of Art and the Maritime Museum of San Diego will deepen the educational program’s impact. Taking place March 3-10, 2026, this educational performance will engage approximately 4,000 students in San Diego County (primarily from under-resourced elementary schools), with live performances by our 26-member orchestra, multimedia visuals, and guest educators. Maritime history is deeply connected to STEAM learning, as it encompasses scientific principles like navigation, buoyancy, and oceanography, alongside the engineering of ships, technological advancements, and the artistic and cultural storytelling of seafaring communities. The educator utilizes the orchestra to deliver a carefully curated lesson plan on a scientific topic, incorporating interactive, musical elements to cater to multisensory learning. The curriculum will also delve into how science, mathematics and nature inspire composers as they create their art.  This project will benefit traditionally underserved communities in San Diego County. 100% of the funds will directly benefit students from low-income (Title 1) elementary schools. The funds will help us provide subsidized ticketing costs and directly fund free bus transportation for up to 16 buses, benefiting approximately 1,000 students. 

3. $10,000 to Wilson Middle School for their Robotics Club
In 2012, they launched their after-school robotics program. Their teams have since participated in FIRST LEGO League (FLL), Botball, and other regional STEM challenges. Despite financial limitations, their students have won regional awards and qualified for state-level tournaments. Until this year, their school supported a small stipend for staff coaching the robotics teams, but due to budget cuts, that support has been eliminated. This proposal seeks to sustain the program through external funding so that they can continue providing equitable STEM opportunities for students who otherwise would not have access. Wilson Middle School serves a richly diverse and predominantly low-income student population in City Heights, one of San Diego’s most underserved communities. Over 90% of their students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and many are first-generation Americans. They anticipate directly reaching 40-60 middle school students and indirectly reaching hundreds of elementary to high school students with outreach events, Girls in STEM Inspiration Day, and through social media. Funding will support coach stipends, registration fees, robotics supplies, transportation, team uniforms, and food. The club advisor brings over 20 years of experience as a STEM educator committed to creating equitable and engaging learning environments for all students and has received national recognition, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the CSTA Excellence in Computer Science Teaching Award, and the NCWIT National Educator Award.

4. $3,000 to All Girls STEM Society for their STEM Workshops and Activities
The All Girls STEM Society (AGSS) is a non-profit organization in San Diego, California, run entirely by high school girls, with guidance from an advisory board composed of STEM educators and  entrepreneurs. Their mission is to inspire girls from grades 3-8 to pursue their interests in STEM fields through free monthly workshops and events at local libraries. Over 10 years, the organization has had over 9000 participants from more than 300 schools. In their workshops, they teach topics from rocketry to programming to environmental science. Their workshops combine lectures and hands-on activities, such as making slime to learn about the properties of polymers, collecting rock samples from coffee cakes, and exploring neural networks through a Tic-Tac-Toe machine learning tournament. In addition to workshops, AGSS partners with local elementaries and libraries to provide volunteers for otherwise understaffed STEM events. Finally, AGSS produces the “Redefining Pink” podcast, which hosts monthly conversations with inspirational women in STEM. Any grant funding will be used primarily to purchase materials and snacks for our workshops and events, or to cover other general expenditures we incur, such as expenses to maintain our Eventbrite sign-up page and our Weebly website. Each year, AGSS serves around 1000 girls in the San Diego area, and our workshop locations range from Chula Vista, to El Cajon, to City Heights, all low-income communities. In the 2024-2025 year, AGSS served approximately 1000 people, hosted 12 workshops across San Diego, including our annual All Girls Math Tournament and NASA AstroCamps, and hosted stations at 4 outreach events.

5. $4,500 to The Coding School  for Scholarships for their Summer Research Program
Funding will support their 2026 Summer Research Programs in AI, quantum computing, and data science with scholarships, plus stipends, to one of our three 2026 High School Research Programs in data science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and quantum computing. Each 5-week program will start with two weeks of intensive, foundational training in their choice of either data science, AI, or quantum computing. Students will then engage in 3 weeks of hands-on research, guided by expert mentors from industry, academia, or government. Additionally, these funds will enable them to expand their outreach efforts within the San Diego community, specifically targeting traditionally underrepresented students, as well as locally-based expert mentors for the program. Since 2014, TCS has trained over 56,000 individuals from 130 countries in partnership with leading companies and universities, such as Stanford, MIT, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM. In 2025’s Summer Research Programs, we have nearly 250 students enrolled across the United States, with 15 San Diego-based students. Of these students, more than 50% come from underrepresented groups in STEM (female, non-binary, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, first-generation, rural, and/or military-connected). Since 2020, TCS has taught foundational computer science and emerging technology skills to more than 2,000 students in California alone, with a historically large portion being San Diego-based.

6. $15,000 to Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair for 2026 Fair
The GSDSEF brings together 600 of the best middle and high school students, 400+ judges who are professionals in their fields and over 60 professional societies and organizations, with $40k in prizes awarded. These students will represent the entire spectrum of diversity across all public, private, parochial, and potential home schools from San Diego and Imperial counties.  The GSDSEF is the highest-level STEM competition in the region and one of the oldest, most respected and competitive in the world. For over 72 years, the GSDSEF has been cultivating and nurturing San Diego’s future STEM workforce. The Science Fair is operated fully by volunteers, who annually assist with science fair activities. In 2025, 89 projects qualified for the California Science and Engineering Fair, 28 were nominated to Broadcom MASTERS and 8 projects (9 students) were selected as finalists at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).  The cost for the 2026 science fair and associated outreach programs is estimated at around $190,000.  An additional $5-10K is being requested from GA so that the GSDSEF can send the largest number of qualifying projects to the ISEF (10), and not limit student participation in the ISEF due to funding limitations (8 projects in 2025).  The 2026 Fair will take place on March 16-22, 2026.

7. $14,000 to Friends of Girls Academic Leadership Academy for STEM programs
Friends of GALA (FoGALA) is the non-profit foundation that directly supports The Girls Academic Leadership Academy (GALA), the Dr. Michelle King School for STEM. GALA is California's only all-girls public 6-12th grade STEM school, serving as a regional STEM school for girls across 81 zip codes in Los Angeles county and beyond. It provides a pathway to college and STEM careers for girls, with a focus on addressing opportunity inequities for girls from underserved communities. The grant will support an accelerated math learning path through a summer geometry course so that the student body can excel at the AP coursework and advanced math; funding will also support STEM supplies for geometric learning and instructional time.  It will expose all students to diverse STEM career opportunities through the annual Young Women’s Career Conference where over 100 women from diverse fields share their educational and professional journeys; funding will provide materials for robotics, architecture, and engineering activities.  Both of these initiatives aim to increase access to advanced STEM coursework and opportunity, boost interest and confidence in STEM fields, and create a more diverse pipeline of women pursuing STEM majors and careers. GALA serves a highly diverse student body of 720 students, including 29% Latinx, 20% Black, 10% Asian-American, with more than half from low-income families. Overall, these programs reinforce GALA’s success in preparing underrepresented students for college and STEM success, sustaining a 100% high school graduation and college acceptance rates.

8. $7,500 to Earth Discovery Institute for Environmental Science Field Trips
Funding will be used during the 2026-27 school year to expand environmental science field trip programming for East County San Diego Title I schools. In the 2024–25 school year, EDI delivered 52 outdoor education school field trips serving 2,345 students from 14 Title 1 Schools, including El Cajon, La Mesa, Spring Valley, Chula Vista, Lemon Grove, and Barrio Logan and 150+ hours of classroom lessons serving 2,982 students. These funds will provide 180 fourth-grade students from Title I schools in East County with two connected, standards-aligned environmental science field trips: one to Crestridge Ecological Reserve (upland/upper watershed) and one to the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge (coastal/lower watershed). During each field trip, EDI’s trained naturalists will guide students through immersive, hands-on STEM activities aligned with Next Generation Science Standards: watershed modeling, runoff/erosion and groundwater experiments, and field water-quality testing, guided  ecosystem hikes, a native-plant restoration practicum, and a community-science pollinator survey. All fourth graders served through this grant will come from Title I schools in East County, where more than 70% of the student body are minorities and more than 70% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

9. $5,000 to Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center Children’s Garden Science and Nutrition Education Program
Funding will support the Children’s Garden Science & Nutrition Education Program for the 2025-2026 school year.  This program provides garden-based, experiential environmental, and nutrition STEM programming to youth at Olivewood and 10 onsite school gardens for all TK-3rd grade National School District (NSD)students. Funding will be used to support the salaries of program educators and  instructional materials and supplies. Students will participate in 4 lessons throughout the academic year. These changes have been made in partnership with the National School District with the goal to build and deepen the science foundation of the primary grades. Examples of STEM grade level learning experiences include: Garden Exploration, Seeds and Living Things, Plant Parts, Biodiversity, Plant Life Cycles and Photosynthesis. More than 85% of elementary age students in the National School District qualify for free/reduced lunch, and the majority of students identify Spanish as their native language. Activities include engaging all TK-3rd grade NSD students in year-round standards-based lessons at school garden sites at all ten district schools focused on interactive science, gardening, and nutrition lessons; all 4th grade NSD students attend a 3-part field trip series to Olivewood focusing on environmental and nutrition science; Olivewood will maintain NSD school gardens at all 10 school sites and work to integrate garden-based learning into classroom lessons.

10. $10,000 to National Marine Mammal Foundation for marine-based STEM workshops
Support will provide 16 STEM workshops to San Diego schools and community organizations from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. The NMMF, headquartered in San Diego, CA, is a world leader in marine mammal research and conservation, whose primary objective is to bring marine mammal science to K-12 students in underserved and military communities within San Diego County. Dolphin Doctor workshops will be offered through our established and trusted community partners Monarch School (4), Preuss School (4), San Diego Title 1 Military Connected Schools (4), Fleet Science Center (4), and the Ocean Discovery Institute High School Leadership Program (2). Funding will support educator and subject matter expert time to provide site-direct workshops that ensure our programs are free, reducing economic barriers to high-quality STEM education.  They expect to engage with 540 students in 18 school and community workshops. Students will learn about marine mammals and their adaptations to diving and living underwater, including advanced oxygen storage, special circulation, and high-pressure tolerance. STEM experiments highlighting topics of pressure, buoyancy, sound waves, and sound travel and include using small vacuum chambers to teach the effects of positive and negative pressure and using balloons, marshmallows, and water to observe what happens when air pressure is increased or decreased. Demonstrations of the physics of sound, include how scientists record and analyze underwater sound (e.g. underwater hydrophone use, spectral analysis, etc.).