All Girls Auto Know®

All Girls Auto Know® is SAWF’s Middle school outreach program. Each one-day event invites up to 300 middle school girls along with teacher/educator chaperones to an experience which will explore the many options that are offered with careers in Automotive and STEM. Each event, using standardized content, is structured to best fit the requirements/restrictions of the host for the event, as well as the participating school systems.

Our Mission

The Southern Automotive Women’s Forum (SAWF) is a non-profit, professional organization dedicated to promoting education and scholarships in addition to personal and professional advancement of women in the automotive industry who are in the Southern Region of the United States. ALL GIRLS AUTO KNOW® is our way to help increase of the number of women pursuing STEM degrees/careers in the Southern Region. Our belief is ensuring that young girls are aware of the many opportunities which exist, and enforcing that they can do whatever they put their mind to, will increase the number of women in our industry.

Our Vision

It is the Vision of SAWF to collaborate with companies and organizations by leveraging the knowledge and talents of women role models to foster a dynamic regional automotive community within the Southern states. SAWF provides scholarships, educational programs and mentoring to attract and retain women to this industry.

History

In 2011, SAWF board members Suzanne Dickerson and Cherie McCain hosted about 40 Greenville County SC middle school girls at Clemson Universities ICAR campus to talk to them about the great options which exist in the Automotive & STEM fields. Together using a kit of random parts, teams built various balloon powered vehicles and raced them in front of the building. At that moment, ALL GIRLS AUTO KNOW® was born.

In 2012 the number of attendees more than doubled. In 2013, it doubled again. Events focused on a presentation on automotive/SAWF/STEM, an interactive panel discussion and a hands-on activity. By 2014, we expanded to 300 attendees, students and their educators, from multiple Upstate SC counties. We added an expo which includes about a dozen representatives from Automotive OEMs and suppliers, STEM Educators, and other STEM organizations. In 2015, we expanded to 2 events per year to include more Upstate SC counties and when possible based on the host, added an automotive tour to replace the panel discussion. In 2017, we expanded to 3 events adding Birmingham, Alabama. In 2018, we increased to four adding one in Kentucky. COVID-19 put a halt to all AGAK programs planned in 2020. In 2021 we returned with two taking place in the spring and fall in Tennessee one additional one in the Fall of 2022 in Tennessee. In 2023, we plan to have one in Tennessee, one in Kentucky and one in Alabama.