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Scholarships are at the root of our purpose in Automotive Women’s Alliance Foundation (AWAF). As an active professional foundation
dedicated to supporting the advancement of automotive professionals, AWAF strives to motivate current and future students
studying an automotive related field.
Scholarships are selected by the Scholarship Committee and awarded quarterly to the women that solicit passion and
drive for the automotive industry. It is our hope that with these scholarships, we can lessen the burden on students
and allow them to focus on gaining knowledge and development in automotive related fields and thus enhance their potential
career path and the future of the industry.
Listed below are several students that were awarded scholarships from AWAF in the past.
For additional information please refer to the leadership page for the most current Scholarship Chair contacts.
Click here to download the scholarship application. (PDF Format)
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Jenny Kubinec,
October 20, 2009, $2,500
In her senior year at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, majoring in Industrial Design – Transportation. She carries a 3.8 GPA as a full time student and is tutoring and instructing Continuing Education classes for CSS. Her automotive interests lie with the importance of sustainability, to retain the beauty of the natural materials that is visible in a vehicle. She states, “With the present use of wood, leather and plant fibers, it is essential to embrace what is already made naturally instead of producing toxic materials that imitate nature. The quality and allure of natural material will play a crucial rose to creating the most intriguing and genuine automotive interiors to come.” She has learned how to effectively research and decipher many processes and materials to demonstrate the green initiatives including the source and recovery process, manufacturing and chemicals used, energy consumption, waste yield, the percentage of recycled or biodegradable components and how recyclable or renewable is the material. Jenny formerly graduated from Assumption College in Windsor with honors and at St. Clair College in Graphic Design. She recently interned with Fisker Automotive in Irvine, California working in Color and Materials, and worked for several years in the industry in graphic and product design before deciding to return to school to pursue her passion in automotive design.
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Ms. Amanda Suter,
August 18, 2009, $2,500
Amanda Suter: The June 2009 Valedictorian from Winlock High School, Winlock, Washington, Amanda also attended Lower Columbia College for the past two years with a GPA of 3.85 majoring in automotive technology. She will receive an Associates degree in Applied Science in August 2009. She has worked part time for a local repair facility, an auto body restoration business, and a restaurant to pay her education and related expenses. Amanda has won countless awards in high school including sports, academics, and community volunteer activities. She will attend Centralia College in September 2009 to pursue a mechanical engineering two year degree which transfers to a four university program. She received many recommendations from her educators and to sum up the words of one of her instructors, “Amanda has shown me throughout high school she is going to be somebody some day. She gives all the effort it takes to be successful.” At AWAF and from our sponsor, Johnson Controls, Inc., these are the principles and qualities we strive to cultivate from our candidate selections for a successful career in the automotive industry. Amanda’s home is Winlock, WA.
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Ms. Andrea Hildago,
August 18, 2009, $2,500
Andrea Hidalgo: A mechanical engineering student entering her senior year at SUNY Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York. Andrea demonstrates her passion for the automotive industry by participating in the SAE Baja team since her freshmen year. As part of the powertrain team, she honed her auto mechanic skills by rebuilding engines and refurbishing an inoperable dynamometer. Each year their SAE Baja team has placed in the top three at competitions held in South Dakota, and Montreal, Quebec. Her experience with the Baja team led to two summer internships with General Motors in powertrain automatic transmission engineering and manual transmission development groups in the metro Detroit area. Andrea says she has loved American cars since she was little and it was such a surreal experience to walk every morning into General Motors as an intern. She adds “I don’t think I will be happy working anywhere else. This has been my dream and I can’t let it slip away.” She is a member of Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). Andrea resides in Elmhurst, New York.
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Ms. Annika Lynn Scott,
March 05, 2009, $2,500
An impending 2009 high school graduate at University High School, Ferndale MI, she will attend Tuskegee University, Alabama in the fall 2009 studying mechanical engineering. Annika is a National Honor Society vice president, formerly participated in the DECA organization and Robotics team, and won first place in web design sponsored by the Michigan Council of Women in Technology. She also participated in the Global Trade Mission, a three day event where students from different schools created a product to be globally marketed, researched and presented their findings to a panel of business leaders. She has participated with the organization People to People (originated by President Eisenhower) as a student ambassador at will for the U.S. in Europe, and was an exchange student in Japan under the Detroit Sister Cities program. Annika's career goal is to make advances with battery efficiency in size and capability to run a vehicle of any size and to make more beneficiary developments in the automotive industry.
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Kimberly Hewlett,
September 25, 2008, $2,500
Kimberly Hewlett: A second-time AWAF scholarship recipient, Kim has entered her junior year at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit majoring in Industrial Design. She was one of 20 talented students selected from around the globe to work at GM’s Global Design intern program this summer as a sculptor. This special opportunity afforded her an experience to work on concept vehicles specifically to meet the projected needs of the emerging markets in 2020. She gained real world application experience in math modeling, milling, working with automotive clay, problem solving, and all the while being interviewed and filmed weekly to document the progress. At the end of the 12 week assignment the vehicle concepts were displayed and concluded with presentations of their work to top executives. Kim said “this experience has confirmed it is exactly what I want to do with my career." Her supervisor commented that it is very rare to find someone as talented as Kim and who has a true desire to apply her talent to the automotive industry.
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Ms. Brittany Voshol,
August 19, 2008, $2,500
A 2008 Royal Oak High School graduate with a GPA of 4.0 she will attend Michigan Technological University, College of Engineering. Brittany has received numerous awards including 2007 Young Mentor Award for FIRST LEGO league, Safety Star for FIRST robotics; Buckeye regional and championship, MVP marching band. In her community, Brittany has organized bottle drive fund raisers, designed summer LEGO camp activities and mentored FIRST LEGO league teams for several years. Her goal after college, "I would like to have a job as an engineer that allows me to make a difference from safer cars to recyclable materials, to alternative energy." Brittany resides in Royal Oak, MI.
Special Thanks to Johnson Controls Inc. for Sponsorsing this Scholarship.
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Ms. Monica Dennis,
August 19, 2008, $1,000
A senior at Kettering University, graduating in December 2008 with a dual degree in industrial and mechanical engineering. Monica was a past AWAF scholarship recipient (August 2006) and it is our distinct pleasure to select her again. At Kettering University, she served as a resident advisor for three years, selected the president of SWE two consecutive years, president of the student alumni council and is the current Student Ambassador for Kettering University. As a co-founder/mentor of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics team and a participant since 2005, the team won the Xerox Creativity Award at the Detroit regional event. In the summer of 2007, Monica studied at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. She has interned at General Motors Powertrain Transmissions in Toledo, Ohio since October 2004 gaining valuable automotive plant operations experience. Upon completing her education, Monica will begin working full-time with General Motors, Toledo, OH and relocate from her home in Clarkston, MI.
Special thanks to AutoMart.com for sponsoring this scholarship.
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Ms. Lauren Edgerton,
August 19, 2008, $1,000
Lauren enters Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Engineering as a freshmen in the fall of 2008. She chose home-schooling beginning in the tenth grade and enrolled in undergraduate courses at Richard Bland College of William and Mary Virginia. A professor writes, "In addition to her academic ability, Lauren has the best extracurricular preparation for her major of any student I have had in my twenty-nine years of teaching mathematics, physics and computer science." Lauren is an avid automotive enthusiast winning the Hard Charger Award (driver competing the most passes) at Langley Speedway in 2007, first place win at Southside Speedway, August 2007, and is currently rebuilding two Chevy Cavaliers for race events. She plans to pursue a career in the automotive or motor sports industry utilizing her mechanical engineering education and experience. Lauren resides in Petersburg, VA.
Special thank you to AutoMart.com for sponsoring this scholarship.
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Catherine Smith,
June 05, 2008, $2,500
Catherine Smith is attending Oakland University with an expected graduation date of December 2008 and a GPA of 3.67. Her degree program is Human Resources with a minor in labor relations and she hopes to continue working in the automotive industry after graduation. She has worked at Detroit Diesel in Detroit, MI since January 2008 and was previously employed at DTE Energy in Detroit, MI for 2 semesters. She spends her free time with her husband Steve and new daughter Sadie as well as traveling and shopping. It is her goal to contribute to advancement and success of both business and people simultaneously.
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Candace Chamberlain,
January 16, 2008, $2,500
Candace Chamberlain is pursuing an MBA – Management Information Systems at East Carolina University. She chose to continue her education after observing a common challenge facing automotive service; how do we effectively reach our younger GEN X and GEN Y service customers. The ability to quickly adapt to and incorporate new technologies into our current business models will be vital for maintaining product relevance. She is works as a District Parts and Service Manager with American Honda Motor Co., Inc., and belongs to the Executive Women’s Golf Association Raleigh/Durham Triangle Chapter. AWAF congratulates Candace, our 49th recipient.
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