This week I arrived for a series of meetings at the SAISD Headquarters only to be politely greeted by a young man who I did not immediately recognize. Luis Salazar informed me that he was working full time in the IT department at the school district, after having graduated from CAST Tech High School two years before, and attending the Advanced Learning Academy (ALA) before that.

Several years ago, we had a series of meetings with SAISD’s IT Department, then managed by Evangelina (Eva) Mendoza. She and one of her key leaders, Aaron Alonzo, rued the fact that they continually posted high-paying IT positions but rarely were able to fill them with SAISD graduates.

We began a partnership with SAISD’s IT department for high school summer internships, which grew to include not only CAST Tech students, but other high school computer science students as well. Since that time, not only has the internship program expanded and become year-round, but the district has begun hiring CAST Tech graduates for full-time positions, next working to create an apprenticeship program so that new hires can participate in training to advance their careers while working full time at SAISD.

These are the kinds of fruits that are borne out of true partnership between a nonprofit like CAST Schools and a school district. They can be hard to measure and quantify, but will have incredible and lasting multiplier effects not only for students like Luis, but for the district, and for the families of these young people who embark on high-paying IT careers with a ladder for future advancement.

Thank you, Eva and Aaron for believing in the talent emerging from SAISD and the school across the street. Most of all, thank you, Luis, for stopping me in the lobby to share a little bit about your story – before you hurried off to help a teacher fix her computer.

Jeanne Russell

Executive Director

CAST Schools