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With the aim of providing holistic approaches to education, social and emotional learning (SEL) has gained significant attention within school systems across the world. SEL has been defined as the process through which individuals understand and regulate emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy towards others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. In an effort to integrate SEL into the academic domains of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) and to promote cross-cultural collaboration, three institutions came together to deliver a groundbreaking program for elementary school students from California and South Korea: the Global Summer Academy. The impact of SEL is even greater when students observe adults collaborating to establish a nurturing environment, modeling positive behaviors, and consistently promoting social and emotional concepts and skills. Thus, forming community partnerships across contexts and settings is an ideal strategy for enriching student learning and development. SEL activities such as mindfulness practice can aid students in regulating their emotions during STEAM tasks, enabling them to better reflect on and address their successes and failures. Such a reflective process not only improves student learning outcomes, but also facilitates the development of persistence, resilience, critical thinking, and growth mindset. Therefore, integrating SEL principles within STEAM activities not only enriches the academic experience, but also equips students with the social and emotional skills necessary for personal growth. To assess students' learning (i.e., what they learned, what they enjoyed, challenges they faced), brief interviews were conducted with all participants at the end of the week-long program. This feedback suggested four key themes -- problem solving, relationship skills, self-awareness, and emotion awareness.