SPECIAL THANKS

"My co-author, Heather Einhorn, and I had a great time being interviewed for the STEAM Race-to-Space virtual event in support of our book, The Curie Society! Our goal with our book was to show young readers how exciting and entertaining STEAM-driven stories can be, and Pat and her team put together an incredible event in support of the same goal. We were delighted to attend — thanks for having us!" 

Adam Staffaroni

Author

"Thanks so much for including me in your awesome Reading Challenge. It was a delight to be a part of this well-oiled machine. I felt so very well prepared from all your emails, and it ran like a dream. Huge congratulations and well-deserved kudos to you and your entire team!!!"

Jennifer Swanson

Author

"I had such a blast today! Probably the best virtual event I've ever participated in if I'm being honest. Thank you again for your hard work and dedication! It really paid off. And please also pass along my thanks to Chris as well. He was awesome."

Brandon T. Snider

Author

"I am a Kindergarten teacher at de Portola Elementary, and we participated in the Race to Space Challenge. We had the students dress up for Outer Space Day and tuned into the LIVE stream for the picture book author. My students created stories, learned songs, and did SPACE art projects on this day. We even worked with our Fifth Grade big buddy class to learn the names and the order of the planets in our Solar System. After the contest, several students went on to do the personal reading challenge as well. As a class, we are now participating in the NASA Future Engineers Lunabotics contest because this Race to Space inspired me to find these opportunities for the students to reach outside the classroom and dream a little while they learn!"

Carol Hansen, Ed. D.

Teacher, de Portola Elementary

"The challenge caught my attention because it was able to tie in STEAM with literacy. This is the type of event that really helps students connect the relevance of STEAM to the outside or real world. The fact many authors were willing to connect with the students also attracted me to this challenge. If we didn't have technical difficulties, our whole school from TK-6th grade would have participated. Thanks for providing so many resources for our students and staff. I know that I will be purchasing books from the list you have provided that were STEAM related." 

Dr. Alma Noche

Principal, Walnut STEAM Academy

"The desire of our teachers to expose their students to STEAM centered literature was a key factor in the Race to Space Reading Challenge, and this was the perfect opportunity to get students researching, reading, and discussing STEAM topics centered around books. Our English teacher, Eileen Pray, created the motivation and desire within our students to read, and students were thrilled when they realized they had opportunities to win prizes for reading in class. 

Since the students were so engaged throughout the Race to Space Reading Challenge, Ms. Pray decided to have students create a poster “choice” board STEAM project as a summative assessment once they finished reading their novels. This was a creative way for students to express their comprehension of their novel as well as how it connected to STEAM."

David Young

Principal, Serrano Intermediate