![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CASTHighSchools_CareerConnectingSummit_StudentInternshipExternship_02_10.28.2025_AmberEsparza.jpg\")
CAST Med seniors Alianna Guajardo and Paulina Garcia chat with table visitors during the CAST Schools Career-Connecting Summit held at the CPS Energy Headquarters on Tuesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\nCAST Schools Network is making the case for San Antonio\u2019s employers to partner with its high schools.<\/p>\n
Known for its emphasis on work-based experience, CAST has seven schools across the city each with different career and industry focuses. On Tuesday, CAST gathered local employers at CPS Energy headquarters for its second \u201cCareer-Connecting Summit,\u201d in hopes of drawing in more hands-on learning opportunities for students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to create a movement to transform what school is like,\u201d said Jeanne Russell, executive director and founder of CAST. \u201cPeople often ask, like, \u2018What is the special sauce of CAST?\u2019\u2026 It\u2019s the partnerships we have with industry, and it\u2019s those opportunities for young people, particularly those who may not otherwise know what the high demand, high wage jobs are in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each CAST school has been created in partnership with a local school district and with input from relevant industry voices, shaping curriculum, internships opportunities and determining which certifications are offered.<\/p>\n
At CAST Med in San Antonio Independent School District, for example, high school students can get medical assistant, phlebotomy or biotechnician assistant certifications. <\/p>\n
CAST STEM at Southwest ISD focuses on engineering, business and drone operations, offering an associate degree in business management and drone licenses for students.<\/p>\n
All of CAST\u2019s high schools follow the same \u201ccareer-connecting\u201d roadmap: focus on pathway exploring in 9th grade, followed by networking the next year, internship and mentoring by junior year and ending with a practicum or pre-apprenticeship before graduation.<\/p>\n
For the roadmap to work, however, CAST needs employers willing to take a chance on high school students. The goal, CAST officials said, is to make companies see the public education system as the largest workforce development system in the region.<\/p>\n
CAST Med seniors Alianna Guajardo and Paulina Garcia chat with table visitors during the CAST Schools Career-Connecting Summit held at the CPS Energy Headquarters on Tuesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
One way for employers to connect with students is create a \u201clong interview\u201d process, said Lisa Lewis, chief administrative officer at CPS and board trustee for CAST. <\/p>\n
The process starts with giving students some exposure to career fields they might not have known existed. CPS is not always the \u201csexiest employer,\u201d Lewis said, and the public can\u2019t always see what career paths are available outside of electricians or customer service. <\/p>\n
For Lewis, it\u2019s important students know that fields like accounting, human resources and cybersecurity are also available at workplaces like hers. <\/p>\n
\u201cIntroducing students to those opportunities that are right here in their own backyard\u2026 and then also letting that student get exposure to what their opportunities might be broadly \u2014 that\u2019s the long interview,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
This process has worked already with current CAST students and alumni. <\/p>\n
Sophia Camacho, 16, is a junior at CAST Tech in San Antonio ISD. The school\u2019s pathways include user experience, entrepreneurship and cybersecurity.<\/p>\n
Over the summer, Campos completed an internship with an e-commerce company. She was uncertain about it at first, but she ended up enjoying it, learning how to read analytics and sales figures, and getting to use her creative skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cif I didn\u2019t have that internship, I would have never told myself that, I want to do e-commerce, I want to do business, I want to be an entrepreneur and I can see myself doing that,\u201d she said. \u201cI was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CASTHighSchools_CareerConnectingSummit_StudentInternshipExternship_05_10.28.2025_AmberEsparza.jpg\")
Cast Tech student Sophia Camacho (center) participates in a mentor\/mentee exercise with employers during the CAST School Career-Connecting Summit held at the CPS Energy Headquarters on Tuesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
The San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter partners with the CAST Lead campus in East Central ISD, a school with pathways in agribusiness, hospitality and business. Students on the hospitality pathway go through internship programs with the hotel, learning several sides of the hotel business.<\/p>\n
Zach Medina, human resources manager for the hotel, said the company has already hired four full-time employees out of that program. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe really want to kind of dive in and treat the students as employees,\u201d Medina said. \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of exposure that you\u2019re able to provide.\u201d<\/p>\n