Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia (TMMWV) is supercharging its future and opening the world of advanced manufacturing to area students with the launch of the Toyota 4T Academy.
The Academy is a two-year education and manufacturing program that will introduce students to TMMWV and give them first-hand, on-the-job experience assembling engines and transmissions. This program, which also serves as a direct pathway to a possible career at TMMWV, will be open to all rising juniors and seniors in Kanawha County beginning Fall 2022 and will be based out of Ben Franklin Career Center.
“The Ts in the 4T Academy stand for team, teach, together and Toyota,” said David Rosier, plant president at TMMWV. “These tenets provide the foundation for our success here at the plant. We are excited to share these principles with the students and show them the unlimited opportunity present in manufacturing careers. This is a creative and unique pathway for these young people.”
Students will have a semester paid internship at Toyota during their second year. Upon graduation from high school and successful completion of the internship, students will have the opportunity to transition to full-time employment with TMMWV.
Rosier, who started his career with TMMWV as a group leader on the shop floor at the facility in Buffalo, said the Toyota 4T Academy exemplifies what makes Toyota a leader in automotive innovation.
“When we brought this from our plant in Indiana, we knew it would have to be more than just Toyota. A fundamental principle of the Toyota Way is to create partnerships and leverage those relationships into transformative change,” Rosier said. “To see our team and the local educational community rise up and take this from discussion to implementation has been inspiring, but what we’re most excited about is how 4T is going to help these students reach their amazing potential.”
“We are very excited about this partnership and the real-world opportunities that it will provide for our Kanawha County students,” said Dr. Tom Williams, Superintendent of Kanawha County Schools. “This is the perfect example of community partnership. I am proud that we were able to come together and work out details to put together a robust learning and possible job opportunity for many qualified students. We look forward to getting the 4T Academy off the ground and continuing to support its success.”
The program, which originated at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana, was developed locally in collaboration with partners from across the educational spectrum, including TMMWV, Kanawha County Schools, The Education Alliance and Purdue University’s Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center (In-Mac).
“Toyota is a world-class manufacturing company with high-skill/high-wage jobs right here in the mountain state,” said Dr. Amelia Courts, President and CEO of the Education Alliance. “By providing high school students with quality, work-based learning and paid internship opportunities during the school day, the 4T Academy will be a life-changing experience for students. We are grateful to Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia for partnering with us to bring this innovative program to our schools.”
“Establishing industry-education partnerships and building a pathway system aligns the workforce needs and prepares students to be successful in a range of industry careers and accelerating educational and career advancement,” said Lisa Deck, IN-MaC program manager for education and workforce. “The 4T Academy ensures that high school students have the skills and access to new technologies allowing students the opportunity and experience to pursue the varied, high-tech opportunities in the region.”
Through the month of April, a representative from Ben Franklin Career Center will visit each Kanawha County high school to do a presentation about the program. Students interested in this opportunity should look for information from their school on the Toyota 4T presentation.