Last week, CAST Schools had 3 amazing graduations – if you count the CAST STEM students (more than two-thirds of the seniors) who also graduated from Palo Alto College BEFORE they graduated from high school.

I love graduations, and most of all, I love hearing directly from our students. Our hope is that every one of them is leaving with a plan and a purpose, a point made by CAST Lead graduating senior Meadow Homec, who told her classmates: “Purpose doesn’t arrive like a letter in the mail, it’s something you carve out from the chaos, piece by piece.” Her classmate Austin Lee also centered on purpose, saying: “When people look back at Cast Lead HS, I hope they see what I see — a group of students who turned doubt into determination, who refused to be put in a box, and who are now stepping into the world with ambition and purpose.

At this intimate yet epic graduation ceremony, East Central Superintendent Roland Toscano shared personal stories of three exceptional graduates, even as he underscored the collective success of the class. In roll call style, he called on them to stand if a) they were an Alamo Promise Scholar, b) a Texas A&M Promise to Promise Scholar, c) a UTSA Bold Promise Scholar, d) if they completed an internship or field experience, d) if they had earned industry-based certifications, and f) if they had enrolled in the military. This is a class that achieved over $110 million in academic scholarships, and every single student is graduating college, career and/or military ready. 

Every single CAST STEM High School student is also graduating college, career, and/or military ready as well, and almost half are leaving with an associate’s degree.  CAST STEM graduating senior Jon Bustamante noted that it was bittersweet to be gathered by the peers and teachers he had grown to see as family, because they had experienced so much collectively, and would never be together in the same way again.

At that joyful ceremony, Dr. Jeanette Ball, Southwest ISD Superintendent, took a moment to parents for their bravery in choosing CAST STEM – a new and innovative program. “The world needs more people like you, who are brave, who are willing to do something different that will benefit the world.” Having already accomplished so much more than most high school graduates, Ball noted, she felt confident that they would continue on to greater heights.

Even as we celebrate these amazing students, their individual and collective milestones, at what point do we feel confident that they are set up for success as adults?

At CAST, we have long believed that the test is a young person’s economic mobility, what we sometimes refer to as achieving economic freedom, and we know that milestone will not come until many years after high school.

It’s not just high school graduation season, however, and this year marks the moment that our first class of graduates (from CAST Tech High School) is starting to graduate from 4-year colleges (those who didn’t graduate early). We’re getting notifications from many of them as they move on to new opportunities: Jon Rodriguez taking a job with Adobe in New York City, Kahlil Davis taking a job with Microsoft, Carina Vlaun graduating with degrees in computer science and math and entering a PhD program, James Goldblatt entering a master’s program at UT-Austin, Thomas Gossman returning to San Antonio from Hofstra University where he studied computer science to do an AI and Vision internship at American Tenet, through Students + Startups, Liam  …and this is just a starter list of the many things our graduates are doing, so many of them in STEM-related fields. CAST Schools original reason for being was to connect local students to high-demand, high-wage jobs in the San Antonio region, and seeing so many find work in these fields is so encouraging.

Dr. Ball is correct, it takes courage to forge a new path, or to make a choice that is outside the norm. For those who do, across our CAST Schools we are showing how much more young people can accomplish even before they leave high school.

If you love graduations, like I do, join us in person or online on June 4 as we celebrate with the Advanced Learning Academy (10 a.m.), CAST Tech High School (12:30), and CAST Med High School, 4 p.m. After hearing a sneak peek of some of our student addresses, I can promise you that they will continue to inspire all of us as they cross the stage!

Jeanne Rusell

Executive Director

CAST Schools