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The freshman year at CAST Schools is a year of self-discovery. For three years, we have partnered with Geekdom chairman, Lorenzo Gomez III, to perform an adaptation of his book for all entering ninth graders. Tafolla Toro: Three Years of Fear, is targeted to young people grappling with issues of fear, anxiety, community violence, and more. The book – set at Tafolla Middle School on San Antonio’s Westside – features a series of stories, with letters to the author’s younger self. These letters offer new perspectives and ideas based on the wisdom of hindsight.
Over the summer, Lorenzo Gomez III collaborated with CAST students and theater teachers to transform the book into a play.
I’m proud to partner with CAST Schools on this inspiring project,” Gomez said. “We are on a mission to take away the stigma around mental health and to inspire this next generation to start these conversations sooner.
The ongoing pandemic has brought to light new challenges, including the need for safe spaces that focus on mental health and the importance of acknowledging it in a healthy way at an early age. The freshman year at CAST Schools is a year of self-discovery where students are encouraged to discover their confidence, find their space, and engage in teams through project-based learning.
The long-term goal is to take the completed play to a larger community stage, to perform to a broad San Antonio audience, and to make it available to audiences across Texas and the country. CAST is seeking donations to help complete and co-publish the play and obtain a designation for it to be performed in Texas UIL one-act theater competitions.
Lorenzo Gomez wants to dispel that notion for good. In his new book, Tafolla Toro, he reaches back in time to share stories of his turbulent, traumatic, and often violent middle school years in one of San Antonio’s most crime-riddled neighborhoods. He opens up to reveal the fear, anxiety, and hopelessness he felt as a teenager and how those forces shaped his life until he began taking steps as an adult to improve his mental health.
The great lie of our society is that mental health and mental illness are the same.”Alternating between shocking stories from his youth and letters written to his 12-year-old self, Lorenzo shows young people how to retake the battle of their minds by dealing with what is true and dismantling the lies that lead to self-deception. In Lorenzo’s journey, readers will see someone who understands what they feel, knows what they’re going through, and is standing up to tell them: Decide today that you are worthy.
Lorenzo Gomez III has served as CEO of Geekdom, Texas’ largest coworking space, and is cofounder of The 80/20 Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to investing in the future of San Antonio.
Despite having little college experience, he used valuable lessons from his entry-level jobs to catapult himself into high-impact positions. At the managed-cloud provider, Rackspace, he worked closely with co-founder Graham Weston.
Prior to 2017, Lorenzo was tasked with converting a dying downtown sector into an attractive tech district. He recruited startups, evaluated competitive coworking spaces, convinced civic and government leaders to support tech companies considering relocation and asked academic institutions to supply talent. The goal of this work was to establish and develop a tech district in the heart of San Antonio, one that did not exist yet.
Lorenzo’s driving passion is his love for his city, San Antonio, Texas. It is truly a city on the rise. His goal is to enable others to see the vision and help advance the seventh largest city in the United States into a world-class center for startups, especially in the tech industry.
Toward that end, Lorenzo collaborates with a network of professionals to fortify growth of the tech district in downtown San Antonio. He is a cofounder of Techbloc and serves as board member, advisor, and mentor for a variety of local and national tech and entrepreneurial endeavors.
We believe this play offers a relatable story to our young people in San Antonio. Our long-term goal is to take the completed play to a larger community stage, to perform to a broad San Antonio audience, and to make it available to audiences across Texas and the country. We plan to co-publish the play and seek a designation for it to be performed in Texas UIL one-act theater competitions. Please consider making a donation to support the further development and completion of the play.
Copyright © 2021 CAST Schools
The Centers for Applied Science and Technology (CAST) Network is a tax-exempt organization as described in Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Service code. CAST Schools are partnership schools with a focus on STEM careers, project based learning and work-based learning. Key partners include public school districts, higher education institutions, and local employers from target industries.
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