CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Dozens of upper-class high school students from across the region are the newest inductees in the advanced manufacturing work-based learning program for Toyota.

Toyota West Virginia recognized the newest 4T Academy class during a ceremony and signing event held at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.

It’s the academy’s fourth year, and high school students across Kanawha, Mason, and Putnam counties take part in the program.

Toyota West Virginia 4T Academy signing day

These newest inductees from those counties will get the opportunity to start work with the company at its advanced manufacturing facility in Buffalo this fall while they finish school.

Currently a sophomore student at Hurricane High School, Rylee Wolf is one of the students entering the program, and one of the few girls who consider careers in the advanced manufacturing industry.

“I feel excited, ready to start it,” Wolf said. “Some of my family works at Toyota, so I felt like it was a good opportunity.”

A Junior at Hurricane High School, Bryson Goble said he’s also ready to start this new opportunity, and he too has family who works for Toyota.

“My dad works there, he’s told me a lot of good things about it, looking forward to it, heard a lot of good things about it,” he said.

Goble said he was inspired to get into this program due to his passion for the hands-on work he does with his dad.

“I worked with him on some little projects over the summers and stuff, and it just caught my eye, working in engineering and stuff,” said Goble. “It’s just always like really been an interest of mine, I’ve always really liked it and hopefully I can complete the program and get a career in Toyota.”

Toyota West Virginia President David Rosier said students gain real world and hands-on experience while working alongside industry professionals during the four-semester program.

He said it’s a unique and beneficial program for the students who have a passion for manufacturing.

“It’s a very unique, immersive training program where students have the opportunity to continue their high school education, have on-the-job training to develop advanced manufacturing skills that will really set them up for careers in manufacturing,” Rosier said.

The program’s curriculum includes electrical, pneumatics, hydraulics, precision machining, industrial automation, robotics and more.

Rosier said the company started this program out of a real demand for workers in the manufacturing industry, as well as a drive to create another pathway for students who choose not to go on to a four-year higher education institution after they graduate.

“College isn’t necessarily for every student and that it’s important for them to understand that there are pathways into really good careers right here in West Virginia that just require some unique skills they can get from this program without having to necessarily jump into some college degree and a four-year commitment,” he said.

Rosier said that through the 4T Academy, they also hope to continue efforts in cultivating more generations of young people who can stay in the state to work and live.

He said it feels very rewarding knowing that they are creating this additional opportunity for students, and helping to continue to build up the workforce in West Virginia.

“Knowing that we’re creating career pathways for these local students, it gives us the opportunity to keep our youth here in West Virginia, they’re developing skills that they can use not only at Toyota but the other manufacturing facilities that are here in the state,” Rosier said.

Seniors in the program earn $16 an hour during their final semester of high school.

Mason County Schools was the latest county school system to join the program last year. Rosier said they still have a long-term image of expanding the program to other school districts, but they put a pause on it this year to evaluate the scale of how many students they are able to induct.

The 4T Academy was established in the state in 2022 through a partnership with The Education Alliance and Purdue University’s Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center.