“It is time that we sharpen our skills on the South Side. This is the perfect chance to get our community up and running. If we do not take advantage of what is at our doorstep, then people from the North Side and other areas of San Antonio will do so. Toyota goes through a very detailed hiring process, and we must get as much education and skills as are available to us, if we want to benefit from this exciting opportunity,” said Guzmán.

Toyota has already had its groundbreaking ceremony, and construction is set to be complete by the beginning of 2006. Over the next two years, Toyota will continue to build their plant. Sitting on 2,000 acres just a stone’s throw away from campus, Toyota will be right in the South Side of San Antonio’s backyard.

This Toyota plant is set to produce the Toyota Full- Size Tundra Truck. This will include every aspect of the vehicle, from putting the tires on to installing the radio. Toyota is set to produce 150,000 Tundra Trucks by 2007.

They will begin their hiring process with only 2,000 total jobs available. It is not going to be an easy task to get on the Toyota team, which offers great pay and benefits. The managers are going to skim through thousands of applications and look for the ones that suit them the best. From secretaries to marketing managers to logistics to manufacturing to computer personnel, Toyota is going to need all types of talented people and is prepared to help the citizens of the South Side and the surrounding region ready themselves for this opportunity.

The new two-story building going up between the Ozuna Learning Resource Building and the main campus is going to be the new Applied Science and Technology Building, which is set to open in January of 2005. This building will house many new courses that will be offered at Palo Alto College, which will prepare potential employees for Toyota. The four new courses that are being added are Electro-Mechanical Technology; Manufacturing Technology, Level 1; Computer Hardware, Maintenance and Repair; and Engineering Technologies, Physics.

Palo Alto Professor Frank A. Quijano explained his plans for the revised class that he has put together.

“I will be teaching Electro-Mechanical Technology, which will begin in the fall. I have gone through this course and restructured it to include new curriculum including English and Math. I am hoping that once you complete this course, you will be a multi-functioned, multi-skilled student who will be able to jump right into a company like Toyota. Once the new Applied Science and Technology Building is complete, we will be able to do a lot more hands-on projects, which will really help this course get the students more in-depth.”

Palo Alto Student Ray Arriola was really excited when he found out about Toyota coming to San Antonio.

“This is a perfect chance for me to get a good steady job. I am going to look into the new courses Palo Alto is offering and take advantage of this golden opportunity. I hope the rest of the South Side area sees this as a golden chance,” said Arriola.

Guzmán was honored to host the Vice President of Manufacturing of Toyota at Palo Alto recently to discuss their role in the plant. Toyota’s Vice President was very pleased that Palo Alto is adding the new classes and said how much it would benefit people who have a desire to work at the new plant.

South Texas Resident John Johnson, former Palo Alto student, was also pleased to hear about Toyota and Palo Alto’s new classes.

“I am happy that Toyota is coming. This is a great chance for me to learn new skills and get back on track with a goal of getting hired by Toyota. I am definitely going to look into sharpening my skills to get on this great bandwagon,” said Johnson.

As Palo Alto continues to see a steady growth in the number of students attending college, Guzmán hopes that this is just the start of many promising careers to come for this area. Palo Alto has seen a 25 percent growth rate over the past two and a half years. For more information on the Toyota company, log on to the Web at www.toyota.com.

For more information about the new classes being offered at Palo Alto, contact Professor Frank Quijano at 921-5512 or Professor “Tito” Chavarria, Instructor of Engineering, at 921-5523.