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Jeanne Russell, executive director and founder of CAST, speaks to attendees at the CAST Schools Career-Connecting Summit held at the CPS Energy Headquarters on Tuesday. CAST Schools Network is making the case for San Antonio’s employers to partner with its high schools.
Known for its emphasis on work-based experience, CAST has seven schools across the city each with different career and industry focuses. On Tuesday, CAST gathered local employers at CPS Energy headquarters for its second “Career-Connecting Summit,” in hopes of drawing in more hands-on learning opportunities for students.“We are trying to create a movement to transform what school is like,” said Jeanne Russell, executive director and founder of CAST. “People often ask, like, ‘What is the special sauce of CAST?’… It’s the partnerships we have with industry, and it’s those opportunities for young people, particularly those who may not otherwise know what the high demand, high wage jobs are in our community.” Each CAST school has been created in partnership with a local school district and with input from relevant industry voices, shaping curriculum, internships opportunities and determining which certifications are offered. At CAST Med in San Antonio Independent School District, for example, high school students can get medical assistant, phlebotomy or biotechnician assistant certifications. CAST STEM at Southwest ISD focuses on engineering, business and drone operations, offering an associate degree in business management and drone licenses for students. All of CAST’s high schools follow the same “career-connecting” roadmap: focus on pathway exploring in 9th grade, followed by networking the next year, internship and mentoring by junior year and ending with a practicum or pre-apprenticeship before graduation. For the roadmap to work, however, CAST needs employers willing to take a chance on high school students. The goal, CAST officials said, is to make companies see the public education system as the largest workforce development system in the region. CAST Med seniors Alianna Guajardo and Paulina Garcia chat with table visitors during the CAST Schools Career-Connecting Summit held at the CPS Energy Headquarters on Tuesday.One way for employers to connect with students is create a “long interview” process, said Lisa Lewis, chief administrative officer at CPS and board trustee for CAST. The process starts with giving students some exposure to career fields they might not have known existed. CPS is not always the “sexiest employer,” Lewis said, and the public can’t always see what career paths are available outside of electricians or customer service. For Lewis, it’s important students know that fields like accounting, human resources and cybersecurity are also available at workplaces like hers. “Introducing students to those opportunities that are right here in their own backyard… and then also letting that student get exposure to what their opportunities might be broadly — that’s the long interview,” she said.Sophia Camacho, 16, is a junior at CAST Tech in San Antonio ISD. The school’s pathways include user experience, entrepreneurship and cybersecurity. Over the summer, Campos completed an internship with an e-commerce company. She was uncertain about it at first, but she ended up enjoying it, learning how to read analytics and sales figures, and getting to use her creative skills. “if I didn’t have that internship, I would have never told myself that, I want to do e-commerce, I want to do business, I want to be an entrepreneur and I can see myself doing that,” she said. “I was there.” Cast Tech student Sophia Camacho participates in a mentor/mentee exercise with employers during the CAST School Career-Connecting Summit held at the CPS Energy Headquarters on Tuesday.The San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter partners with the CAST Lead campus in East Central ISD, a school with pathways in agribusiness, hospitality and business. Students on the hospitality pathway go through internship programs with the hotel, learning several sides of the hotel business. Zach Medina, human resources manager for the hotel, said the company has already hired four full-time employees out of that program. “We really want to kind of dive in and treat the students as employees,” Medina said. “That’s a lot of exposure that you’re able to provide.”75% of the interns who get hired on full time are still on the job after one year, compared to 53% of other employees. Companies interested in providing mentorship and hands-on learning experiences to students can contact the program coordinators for each campus “The idea is that we are exposing students to both college and career while they are with us, and then they’re leaving us having experienced the real world,” Russell said.articles this month. That’s right — we’re committed to providing free, fair journalism for all. But without donor support, our nonprofit newsroom can’t do its job to inform and empower your community. Are you in? Your donation of any amount will help keep articles like this one accessible to all San Antonians.Xochilt Garcia covers education for the San Antonio Report. Previously, she was the editor in chief of The Mesquite, a student-run news site at Texas A&M-San Antonio and interned at the Boerne Star....
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