Overview

STEAM Box was founded in 2013 by Roberto Gonzalez and a group of youth from Providence. This Science Technology Engineering and Arts program has received city, state, and national recognition for its innovative approaches to accessibility, diversity, education, youth empowerment and amazing projects. In 2013, STEAM Box youth led by John Eunis sent a camera to space in a high altitude balloon project. Also, STEAM Box won the Lipsky Whittaker Award for our work in the LGBTQ community. In 2014, as the troubled Alvarez High School was set to close, STEAM Box youth won the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow challenge and brought national recognition to the school. Each student won a Samsung Tablet and other prizes for their environmental conservation work. In 2015, STEAM Box won the Apple Distinguished Educator award and Tech 10 award for its work in the community. In 2016, STEAM Box won the PBS Digital Innovator award for it’s work developing a floating vehicle (Hoverboard) with artificial intelligence. Also in 2016, our youth led the animation program to study in Studio Ghibli at Tokyo, Japan. In 2017, STEAM Box won the Henry Ford Innovator Award for our artificially intelligent TARDIS community library. In 2019, STEAM Box returned to Japan with our podcast STEAM Box vs. (which ranked #1 worldwide in education). STEAM Box won the Metcalf Award for Community Justice for an episode of this podcast. In 2021, STEAM Box explored Mental Wellness through our podcast format linking our youth with young wellness experts of color. This was a triumph as youth discussed loss, grief, rage and tragedy but always came back to the importance of ‘hope’.