I am a sucker for milestones; I love weddings….and…graduations! As we head into graduation season, I have been soaking up as many senior celebrations as I can squeeze into my schedule, my heart overfull as I see students taking a deliberate step into their future with loved ones cheering them on. I am also missing two of our CAST high school graduations this year, which I absolutely hate, except I don’t hate the reason: my own daughter is graduating from college. Speaking of college, it is 4 years since our first school, CAST Tech, graduated its first class of seniors, so we are seeing a big burst of CAST Tech alumni graduating from 4 year colleges this year. (If you’re interested in alumni stories, we’ve started running a regular feature on our alumni in this newsletter, thanks to Alumni Coordinator Gabi Gonzalez! We’ve also shared some stories from Tech, STEM and the Advanced Learning Academy, where students have earned a bachelor’s in under 4 years.)

Every one of our students has a story, and each one is worthy of its own celebration. Today I want to share some big highlights from our graduating seniors across CAST Tech, CAST STEM, the Advanced Learning Academy (ALA), CAST Med and CAST Lead, just to give our readers an idea of how well our students are doing across the board.

CAST Tech historically has sent the most students straight to work, and this year, that is 9 percent of their graduates, with another 5 percent going into the military. The biggest percent, 56 percent, will attend a 4-year college, and another 30 percent will attend a 2-year college. CAST Tech is recommitting to career-connected learning, ensuring that 100 percent of their sophomores visit one of their industry partners. Across all our CAST Schools, thanks to USAA, we are bringing back mentorship with a focus on the 10th grade. This year, for the third year in a row, CAST Tech’s esports team took home two major titles, dominating the competition at the Boeing Center at Tech Port where nearly 1,000 college esports players from across the U.S. and Canada gathered for the Scholastic Esports Championships — right here in San Antonio!

ALA leaned into career-connected learning this year, with a big push for 10th grade mentors, and developing a full 4-year career pathway in digital media that includes multiple Adobe certifications. I’m so excited to report that every ALA graduate this year had an internship, helping them take that next step with even more confidence. ALA also had a great year in the fine arts, with the Fox Tech-CAST Tech-ALA mariachi winning sweepstakes at the UIL state mariachi festival. The ALA-CAST Tech theater also went on to the area competition, after meeting up with the CAST STEM theater at the bi-district competition – big congrats to both thespian troops!

CAST STEM moved to Palo Alto College last year, and their location has given their students the opportunity to excel at their college classes. ALL of their seniors will graduate with at least 9 college credits, and 87 percent of them will graduate with either an associate’s degree or a Level 1 certificate, crossing the stage at Palo Alto College before they receive their high school diploma. Most of those students will go to college, but we have three planning to enter the TX FAME program in partnership with Toyota. CAST STEM launched a pre-apprenticeship program in partnership with Toyotetsu this year, another partner in the TX FAME advanced manufacturing program. CAST STEM’s growing electric car program traveled to a national competition in Florida this year, and placed second in our local ACE race!

CAST Med continues to cultivate the next generation of healthcare leaders. We’re proud to celebrate that 84% of seniors are continuing their journey toward medical careers after high school—keeping their passion for healing and helping others alive! CAST Med has only recently solidified its certification programs, and about half the students will graduate with certifications either as Medical Assistants or in phlebotomy. The school also launched a pre-apprenticeship program with The SAVE Clinic (San Antonio Vascular and Endovascular Clinic) with the hopes of connecting students to an apprenticeship. Close to 90 percent of CAST Med students are graduating with college credit, and all but one of this year’s senior class will attend college.

CAST Lead built strong employer partnerships this year, including with Marriott Rivercenter and Hotel Contessa, and 80 percent of their graduating class will leave with an internship experience. This year, every single one of their sophomores, juniors and seniors all participated in job shadowing, visiting H-E-B’s e-commerce fulfillment center, Silver Ventures at the Pearl, and downtown hotels. In more fun news, their seniors also took the second annual behind-the-scenes trip to Disney World, returning just in time to graduate!

Three cheers, and hats in the air, for our amazing graduates!

Jeanne Russell

Executive Director

CAST Schools