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June 10, 2026

April 29, 2026

The 3rd annual BioBlitz at brought together 81 4th graders and 29 volunteers to explore the biodiversity surrounding the school. Students discovered and identified 92 different organisms! THANK YOU to the wonderful teachers and administration at Crest View who support integrating outdoor education and community collaborations, and to the volunteers from �鶹��Ѱ�����Science Discovery, , and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies departments at �鶹��Ѱ�����, , , and , who took time and energy out of their days to get kids fired up about the natural world!

April 23, 2026

Thanks to everyone who joined us at �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder's Take Your Kids to Work Day event and created a colorful flower for our Versatile Garden. Even Chip got in on the action! Big thanks to for the colorful inspiration!

April 23, 2026

Exciting news just in from Club Innovation students at Science Discovery's afterschool program at STEM Launch K-8 in Thornton! In February, Club students were invited to submit their best ideas to the����competition. As part of the challenge, students were encouraged to think about game-changing ideas – maybe an awesome concept to solve a problem at their school or a solution to community-wide problem. Program manager Caitlin is excited to share that Leo, one of her 4th grade Club students, has won a first-round prize of $250 for his submission (click the link above to view his submission video) and will be moved to the second round of the competition! Kudos to Caitlin and her team for working tirelessly for such an amazing program and showing up weekly to provide support and thoughtful mentorship to Leo and many others!

April 14, 2026

�鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder’s Craft Tech Lab and Club Innovation students joined forces in the name of research! Club Innovation 5th graders had the opportunity to build their own robotic insects and give their input about the kits. Students were able to provide valuable feedback about what worked and didn't work before the lab updated their Build-a-Bug kits for a broader audience. This cross-collaboration was a great opportunity for elementary-aged students to see science happening in real time and provide valuable testing grounds for �鶹��Ѱ�����faculty and labs to try out their content—it’s a win, WIN!

March 13, 2026

The School and Teacher Programs team were all hands-on deck for a week at Dawson School in Lafayette where they delivered two custom programs—Invent It!, a micro:bit program for middle school students and Case 47: Beyond the Yellow Tape, an exploratory case study for high school students. Scott Sieke and Steven Denham put an immense amount of work into planning the week’s activities for approximately 22 students and based on the feedback received, their efforts paid off in a BIG way! Here are a few of our favorite highlights shared by the Dawson team:

• "Everything was fantastic! [Scott] was the definition of professional; he was incredibly organized, arriving with every single material needed for every activity, and he was able to pivot gracefully whenever things didn't go exactly as planned." "[Scott] was the pinnacle of professionalism."
• "[Case 47] may be over, but the curiosity, collaboration, and critical thinking sparked beyond the yellow tape will continue long after the bus ride home."
• "One of the most rewarding surprises of the week was hearing a student declare their plan to attend �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder! This shift in perspective is a testament to the power of the campus visit and the meaningful interactions with current �鶹��Ѱ�����students."

March 12, 2026

Caitlin Anderson and her team of 17 volunteers hosted another incredibly successful Family Night at STEM Launch for approximately 200 attendees! The theme of the event was Powering Our Future Together and included activities such as sail cars, circuits, potato batteries and more. As a valuable tie-in, Caitlin’s Club Innovation students were able to showcase some of the board games that they had created in their afterschool program. Hats off to Caitlin for planning an engaging event that was thoroughly enjoyed by all!

February 28, 2026

The Science Discovery team got a chance to celebrate all things STEAM with over 950 kids, families and community members at our annual Family STEAMfest event! Participants spent time creating diatoms, using Play-Doh to understand Braille, visualizing music through math, observing the sun through telescopes, exploring fluid dynamics, building Binary code keychains, and more. This event would not be possible without collaboration and support from a number of individuals and organizations. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event so fantastic, including but not limited to:

• �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder's Museum of Natural History
• �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder's Parking and Transportation
• Fiske Planetarium
• Jennie Smoly Caruthers��Biotechnology Building
• MathHappens Foundation
• National Solar Observatory
• Riddle Family Foundation
• Stingers Café
• 100+ faculty and student presenters and volunteers who led various activity stations

Click the link above to see some of our favorite moments from the day.��

January 22, 2026

The Science Discovery Teen Café has returned! The first event of the year was held in Aurora on January 22 at the Moorhead Rec Center with 11 high school students in attendance. Program youth leaders invited �鶹��Ѱ�����Anschutz PhD student Colette Dolby to share her research that involved using zebrafish to model genetic diseases in humans. Attendees were invited to explore the equipment required for zebrafish husbandry and get an up-close look at live fish in an attempt to identify mutants. Teen Science Cafés are free events held monthly throughout the school year in Aurora and Thornton. Visit the��Science Discovery Teen Café��webpage for more information about upcoming events.

October 23, 2025

On Thursday, Club Innovation at STEM Launch K-8 School joined the nationwide celebration of��Lights On Afterschool, showcasing the positive impact afterschool programs have on students and families! This grant-funded afterschool program serves 60 elementary students and is supported by a team of 18 student mentors from �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder and Northglenn High School. To celebrate the theme of��“keeping the lights on,” students lit up the room — and their imaginations — with a variety of glowing activities. They received their own glow sticks, worked together in a fun gift-wrapping teamwork challenge��(while literally connected to one another), and even powered LED lights using potatoes as batteries! 🥔✨ It was a bright reminder of how creativity, collaboration, and curiosity shine in afterschool programs every day.

Each year, �鶹��Ѱ�����Science Discovery Broader Impacts Manager, Alex Rose, runs an interactive seminar called Science Communication and Outreach. The course brings together graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and researchers from across science and engineering fields at �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder. The goal is for participants to learn to explain their research in clear, engaging ways—whether that’s through conversation, writing, or interactive demos, they work to be able to spark curiosity and connection in audiences of all ages. Participants create a versatile “elevator pitch” and share their work at a unique “reverse science fair” where high schoolers at Northglenn High School judge the scientists on their research presentations. Not only does this course build confidence and professional development, but it also gives students tools they can use in outreach, teaching, and in professional communication contexts. The course is supported by funding through the Niwot Ridge LTER project and the Broader Impacts activities of Dr. Wyatt Shields’s NSF CAREER award.

September 2025

�鶹��Ѱ�����Science Discovery is excited to kick off the second year of our CO-AAP (Colorado Academic Accelerator Program) grant in partnership with Adams-12 Five Star Schools. This afterschool math tutoring program brings together 9 �鶹��Ѱ�����student mentors (including undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students) and 8 Northglenn High School students to support 64+ elementary learners in building positive STEM identities, strengthening math skills, and connecting with science happening at �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder. Our near-peer model fosters mentorship between �鶹��Ѱ�����students and high school tutors, sharing college and career pathways that highlight all �鶹��Ѱ�����has to offer to future Buffs. This fall, our team hosted a Family Math Literacy Night that welcomed over 140 participants for hands-on activities and bilingual take-home resources to support math education in the school community.