Middle school students attend All Girls Auto Know to learn about STEM, auto careers

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- Bowling Green Junior High School hosted The Southern Automotive Woman’s Forum All Girls Auto Know program, sparking the interest of young girls headed in the automotive and STEM fields.

Principal Robert Lightning is intentional about the progression of his students.

Lightening says, “The ultimate goal is just to continue to expose our students, to provide them with knowledge that they may not currently have as it pertains to possible careers for our students. Today, our focus was those careers that are aligned with stem.”

The nonprofit provided a hands-on robot-building experience, a presentation of the behind-the-scenes of manufacturing the cars and so much more. One student also shares her discovery of the value of STEM.

Kirbee Hamiton, a sixth grader at Bowling Green Junior High School, says, “Today showed me. It made me like STEM a little bit more, and it showed me that you need to do what you want.”

The automotive program also left this future math teacher more motivated, inspired and ready to achieve what she wants. She shared some words of encouragement:

“No matter what gender you are, girl, boy, whatever, you can do what you want, and you can’t let anybody else tell you that if you know what you want to do, and you are truly passionate about it, then who cares what anybody says? You do it.”

The principal wants to give middles school girls, along with educators, the opportunity to explore the wide variety of options within the STEM career fields.

Lightning says, “Students at this age crave those activities and opportunities to, to build things and have those hands-on experiences, but also the, the part in auditorium, the panel discussion again, for those, those women who are in the field to get up and tell their stories, uh, before young lady, that’s been very empowering to our students.”