STEM Committee Programs

At AWAF, we know firsthand the value of hands-on experience, real-world connections, and being invited into rooms of opportunity. That's why we offer our volunteer-led STEM programs to schools, organizations, and students completely free. 

Through our HER Story career and mentorship panels and our STEM Kit robotics workshops, we strive to help young women see themselves in the future of automotive-mobility - or wherever their talents take them - and step into empowerment early on. Learn more about how we achieve that through our programs below.

HER Story - the road to YOUR story

Designed for grades 9 - 12, our HER Story program brings individuals or a panel, comprised of AWAF membership and our network of professionals, into the classroom to discuss the realities and opportunities of academic and professional life after high school. We prioritize candid, open-door conversations directly with industry leaders, allowing students to connect with potential mentorship and get inspired.

Our HER Story program works with over 15 Michigan schools and organizations and features:

• Understanding further education: from university to trade school, career planning, and the journey of self-discovery.
• Learning from internships and co-op programs.
• Diverse career representation: showcasing the broader industry or tailored to a specific field of interest, such as engineering, autonomous vehicles, electrification, computer science, supply chain, trades, business, etc.
• Applying STEM skills across careers and thinking outside the box of traditional roles.
• Personal stories of success, failures and lessons learned.
• Overcoming adversity.
• The importance of diversity and how it builds better relationships, businesses, and products.
• Networking: how, who, and why.
• Options to include special workshops:  resume building, maximizing a LinkedIn profile, and mock interviews.

STEM Kit - Building your future

Our STEM Kit workshops include personally curated lesson plans to introduce students to the excitement - and challenges - of mechanical engineering, coding, and vehicle sensing / autonomy.

From build sessions teaching lessons on design clearance, prototyping, mechanics, and steering to coding sessions teaching basic python or block coding and early software engineering skills, students will gain valuable, real-world experience guided by actual automotive industry experts. 

These workshops can be built around custom schedules and education goals: either one-off or a series of sessions that build on the progress made and lessons learned.

LEGO® Robotics Kits - in partnership with MARZ & GSSEM

Designed for grades 6 - 12, and in partnership with the Macomb Area Robotics Zone (MARZ) and the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (GSSEM), students can build and code LEGO® Robotics Kits, featuring modular designs and age-appropriate lesson plans ranging from simple vehicle motion to more complex sensing and obstacle avoidance.

MagicBit STEM kits

Designed for grades 9 - 12, students can build and/or code a more challenging 'autonomous vehicle' robot with coding options in Python or block coding, using AWAF's supply of MagicBit STEM Kits:

• Controlling speed and direction
• Akerman steering, controlling servo, mapping wheel angle to servo angle
• Interfacing ultrasonic sensor, displaying distance, setting threshold and buzzer tone
• Light controls and LED signals (neo pixel signal lights, warning lights, strobe lights, patterns)
• Day/Night Vision: automating headlights with LDR, hi-low beam, POT to control brightness
• Alerting: sounding the horn, music tone generation
• Obstacle avoidance
• Connectivity and Wi-Fi controls

Ready to Learn? Contact us!

If you are an education professional, parent, student, or STEM/girls' organization interested in working with AWAF's programs, please contact our STEM Committee Co-Chairs: Riley Keehn ([email protected]) and Maya Makhlouf ([email protected]).

Special Thanks to our STEM Partners!