Yokohama Spurs Career Program Interest Among Teens

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) — The new Yokohama Tire plant in West Point is attracting a new breed of students to West Point’s high school career technical program.

The head of the career center says the image of vo-tech students has been changing for years as those programs and the job market has gone more high-tech. The construction of the Yokohama plant and the skills needed for the jobs there are taking that to a new level. That means advanced skills are needed at a younger age.

“Their are some who are really excited about the prospects that are ahead of them and are really working hard and our metal fabrication, our construction, our engineering program because they know that training , those programs will help them,” said Patrick Ray, head of career and technical programs for the West Point School District.

The first phase of Yokohama’s 10-year plan is expected to open next year.

Ray spoke Thursday to the West Point Rotary Club.