FLUSHING, N.Y. -- Audra Fordin teamed up with the Long Island Children's Museum (LICM) to educate children on the auto repair experience. With Audra's professional guidance, the museum put together a brand new exhibit titled "Broken; Fix it", traveling to children's museums throughout the United States of America, with a focus on automotive education featuring Audra in the "The Mechanic's Corner".
The Mechanic's Corner is a garage-like setting built to demystify the inner workings of automobiles. Three partial, life size car specimens will be exposed for children to tinker with: one will be ground access, one on a lift, and one jack accessible. The simple hook ups will "reset" for each child to ensure they have a real life experience learning differences between working car parts and defunct ones. Two examples that will be part of the exhibit: 1) using tire jack to raise, release, and replace a soft sculpture tire with tightening and loosening bolts that reset and 2) replacing a dirty air filter by choosing a good one out of a variety.
The goal is to develop within children the capacity to assess, determine an approach, and then tackle repair jobs. By discouraging participation in a "disposable" society through advocating personal mending of possessions, Fordin, in the "Mechanics Corner" will provide visitors the opportunity to fix everyday automotive objects in simulated situations by determining the problem and then selecting proper tools needed to fix it.
The Long Island Children's Museum is a successful private, nonprofit institution in operation since 1993. The most well-attended Long Island museum, the LICM focuses on interdisciplinary, age-appropriate, and inter generational fostering of both independent and cooperative exploration. It also encourages concept development and skill building in a number of areas. This is the drive pushing the Mechanic's Corner, a new space for the organization that will change the way boys and girls learn about and view cars and the work of auto mechanics.
Audra Fordin, 4th generation Owner and President of Great Bear Auto Repair and Body Shop is also the founder of "Women Auto Know" as well as an advisory board member at LICM. She is an educator and mentor who thrives on teaching adults and children alike about car maintenance and auto repair and is always happy to share her message through speaking engagements both regionally and nationally.
"The disconnect in the automotive industry starts at a young age. By educating our children early in their lives that they can do anything, regardless of gender, they will be more apt to take care of themselves as second nature, without the stigma of outside stereotypes holding them back," Audra said. "This is a win-win-win for the future drivers of America, the automotive industry as a whole, and for generations of children who will be caring for us later in life. A big thank you to the Long Island Children's Museum and their team for working to help teach auto maintenance to the future."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgE-ziqVcOw
Contact:
Audra Fordin
audra@womenautoknow.com
164-16 Sanford Avenue
Flushing, NY 11358
Founded in 2009 by Audra Fordin, Women Auto Know provides automotive education and resources that empower drivers of all ages with a primary focus on women to be safe, confident, and knowledgeable consumers, passengers, and drivers. Audra is a fourth generation owner of the Great Bear franchise. Her great grandfather founded Great Bear in 1933 and developed it into one of the leading automotive franchises in the country. Today, Audra is a regionally and nationally recognized advocate for empowering women and educating consumers in the automotive repair industry. To find out more about Audra and her work go towomenautoknow.com.
