TFS Helps Students Prepare for Limitless Futures
Helping young people succeed doesn’t just take schools—it takes a village. Three years ago, Toyota Financial Services (TFS) joined forces with the Lancaster Independent School District in North Texas to create the Toyota Leadership Academy, a multifaceted initiative to boost student success in underserved communities.
The program offers a specialized curriculum designed to increase high school graduation rates, improve college, career and leadership readiness and introduce students to job opportunities in the evolving workforce.
TFS team members mentor and provide weekly tutoring in reading and math. In addition, several team members have stepped up to teach full lessons in engineering, data science and operational excellence at the high school level as part of the district’s career and technical education programming.
Nicole Hollrah, a TFS model risk manager, blocks 30 minutes on her calendar every week to tutor a second grader in reading. Hollrah and her young student both look forward to these sessions, which usually consist of playing word games and reading stories together.
“It’s only 30 minutes during our workweek. It’s not much time, but it’s the best meeting I have all week.”
Students participating in the Toyota Leadership Academy have achieved:
83%
reading growth, an average 15 points higher than before the program was established
11%-36%
higher scores on standardized testing, compared to their district-level counterparts (1)
1 Data are from the 2021-22 academic year.