The goal of the initiative is to encourage students to pursue careers in manufacturing. It enables them to work part time while they earn their diplomas, with the potential of stable, full-time employment upon graduation.

Students follow a state-approved curriculum in traditional high school classes, while also learning about manufacturing and training in a simulated factory environment. The 4T (Team, Teach, Together and Toyota) academies house collaborative classroom spaces, electric and pneumatic tool training stations, a simulated vehicle production line and high-tech components.

One recent success story took place at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana, which builds vehicles such as the Highlander SUV and the Sienna minivan.

Ali Houchin, 23, was thinking about a career in cosmetology before hearing about 4T while she was still in high school. Houchin was hesitant at first, because she didn’t have any family who had worked in manufacturing, and she imagined it was dirty, demanding physical labor.

“I just viewed factory work as very hard,” says Houchin. “I didn’t really know a lot of women who worked at a factory.”

However, first-hand experience on the assembly line as part of her high school program changed Houchin’s thinking. She worked alongside other women and saw how the state-of-the-art factory uses robots and other machinery to reduce physical labor.

Houchin liked the team atmosphere and Toyota’s emphasis on safety. By the time she graduated, Houchin had decided on her future. Today, she works as a supervisor in the paint shop and recently built a house on three acres of land.