Date: June 1, 2, 3 and 5, 2026

Time: 1:30 PM

Location: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 3725 30th St., San Diego, CA 92104

SAN DIEGO — ROOTS welcomed refugee students in fourth grade and above to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in North Park for the 2026 ROOTS STEM Camp, continuing the organization’s multi-year effort to make science accessible through hands-on learning.

The four-day program explored physics and mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. Students designed devices to protect eggs from a drop, experimented with materials to keep ice from melting, created lemon batteries, explored elements and minerals, and made slime while learning about polymer chemistry.

Biology activities included constructing DNA models and observing plant and animal cells under microscopes. On engineering day, students experimented with balloon helicopters, built FM radios, and designed bridges capable of supporting weight. In each activity, participants were encouraged to predict what might happen, build or test an idea, observe the result, and improve their design.

ROOTS volunteers designed the curriculum around lessons learned from several years of working with multilingual and mixed-age groups. Short explanations, demonstrations, drawings, team roles, and hands-on experimentation were placed at the center of each class. Students were encouraged to understand that a failed design was not a wrong answer but useful information for the next attempt.

The 2026 camp continued a program that has grown far beyond a single summer activity. Annual STEM camps, recurring STEM Days, university and laboratory visits, educational field trips, book drives, music fundraisers, and community programs now work together toward the same goal: giving refugee youth opportunities to discover new interests and the confidence to keep exploring them.

About ROOTS

ROOTS, the Refugee Children’s Organization for Tech and Science, is a youth-led volunteer organization dedicated to expanding access to STEM education and enrichment opportunities for refugee children in San Diego. Through partnerships with refugee-serving organizations, schools, universities, and community institutions, ROOTS organizes free STEM camps, STEM Days, educational field trips, book drives, benefit concerts, and other programs designed to build curiosity, confidence, friendship, and community among young learners.