At CAST, one of our four pillars we use as the foundation of our education is authentic learning. This means that the education is student-led, tailored to specific goals and interests, and connected to real-world needs that deepen their understanding and skills and helps them to see how what they’re doing makes a real impact in the world. A core element of the authentic learning experience includes Work-Based Learning: Connecting classroom learning to the real world, our school facilitates work-based learning experiences. Student learning is connected to real-world needs outside the school walls; students travel to the workspace and design relevant projects for real audiences with competitions, presentations, and other authentic exhibitions of learning.
At CAST, students can collaborate with local artists, scientists, or professionals, gaining practical insights, applying their skills in authentic settings, and earning industry-recognized certificates. From Adobe/Microsoft to even CPR certifications, CAST provides ample opportunities for students to be better prepared for their future careers outside of high school. Click here to view a list of industry-based certifications available across CAST Schools. The students “Learn By Doing” and can use said experiences in their professional careers after they graduate high school. Students can experience authentic learning in CAST Schools’ varying work-based opportunities. One experience in particular is our annual senior hiring fair.
CAST Schools will hold its annual Senior Hiring Fair next Thursday morning, giving hundreds of high school seniors from Advanced Learning Academy, CAST Lead, CAST Tech, CAST Med, and CAST STEM the opportunity to meet with local employers to explore and interview for part-time and full-time career opportunities. The event will include more than 20 local companies dedicated to providing employment opportunities to CAST students. The program is intended to help grow the local workforce by encouraging CAST graduates to consider career opportunities at home in their hometown of San Antonio. To Jeanne Russell, CAST Schools’ Executive Director, this is what the hiring fair is all about:
At CAST, we want to ensure our students are successfully connected to a meaningful job in their field, whether they are going straight to the workforce, or, like many of our students, planning to work while attending college. The hiring fair connects CAST seniors to employers in the fields of study offered at CAST, including medicine, technology, engineering, manufacturing, and hospitality, also ensuring that students and employers can build relationships that will carry them into the future.
The majority of our students who go to college work while they are in college, so this hiring fair offers them an opportunity to potentially obtain jobs in the summer and year-round that are related to their fields of study. Moreover, we will have a number of employers also offering apprenticeships at this event. Students are encouraged, even if they are not certain they are immediately ready to take a job, to consider this as an opportunity to build long-term relationships with some of our strongest employer partners.
In anticipation of the event, some students have even created a comedic “Interview for Dummies” video for the other students to check out. You can see it for yourself by clicking the link in the previous sentence.
At the Hiring Fair, there will also be an informal meeting for graduating students interested in apprenticeships. Employers will share summer jobs, full-time jobs, or part-time jobs they can pursue before/after graduation. CAST seniors will come prepared with a resume and/or LinkedIn profile page to share with you as they expand on their prior experience.
To see the current list of employer partners participating in this year’s senior hiring fair, click here.
To RSVP your organization for this year’s senior hiring fair, click here.
