All-girls team from Annandale High School wins Audi competition

The winning team from Annandale High School.

A team of sophomores from Annandale High School won a $2,000 grant in the Audi-STEM for Her: Drive Like A Girl competition. 

Aisha Ismael, Katie Hutnan, Francesca Gabriel, and Tejh Hardin came up with a way to enhance the car-buying and ownership process for female customers while considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The annual Drive Like a Girl competition is aimed at building STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among girls in the D.C. region as they identify, design, and present a project focused on the automotive industry. 

The objective of this year’s program was to find a modern solution to make women feel more comfortable during the car-buying and ownership process, as well as encourage women to buy cars from Audi. During the pandemic, there was the added challenge of finding a solution that would be safe and would have minimal human contact. 

The Annandale High School team’s solution was an adaptive needs assessment that would identify buyers’ specific needs, reduce car-buying and pandemic-related anxiety, and promote digitization and sustainability. The customers’ answers on an online assessment influence the questions that follow, the salesperson they’re matched with at the dealership, and the recommended vehicle model they’re shown at the end of the assessment. 

Technology education teacher Phillip Harris provided support and mentorship to the girls. He says the team “wanted to make the process more personal and efficient, especially with the disconnect in communication caused by the pandemic.” 

The students met with mentors from Audi for several weeks leading up to the competition to develop a final idea and presentation. Annandale High will use the grant to fund future STEM and Technology Student Association competitions.