Natalie Castillo
Natalie Castillo admires technology innovators like Bill Gates and Elon Musk. And as valedictorian of the Brackenridge High School Class of 2020, Natalie plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin in the fall to pursue a degree in management information systems so she can follow in their footsteps. But in addition to her passion for innovation, there is another reason Natalie wants to be the next technology trailblazer.
“I have looked up to those people [Gates, Musk] for most of my life,” she said. “But none of them are women. I want to be that role model for a little girl. It’s important to have women in leadership roles because the pay gap still exists and I think it is important to show that women can be billionaires, too. Traditionally, it has been a boys club; I don’t think it should be like that.”
Natalie dreams of creating and running a technology company right here in Texas.
“A lot of people are saying that Austin and San Antonio are becoming the new Dallas/Fort Worth,” said Natalie. “I can build my company in San Marcos and help bridge together the two cities.”
In addition to focusing on technology, she wants her company to focus on environmental preservation.
“Currently, a lot of big corporations don’t focus on preserving our environment,” she said. “Doing that is important because we ALL live here; we need to maintain what we have for future generations.”
Natalie is part of Brackenridge High School’s second early college cohort and will be going to college this fall with an associate degree and 60 credit hours under her belt.
“Being part of the early college high school program has been challenging,” she said. “It is rigorous to be a high school and college student at the same time but I feel like it is providing me with a sense of time management skills that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
In addition to her academic excellence, Natalie has participated in a variety of extracurricular activities while at Brackenridge, including Cyber Patriots, Academic Decathlon, student business club DECA and, for the last two years, cheerleading.
“I like being a part of a team, and I feel like I get that with cheer,” she said. “The amount of trust you have to have in each other, like, we throw each other up and stuff like that. The bond I have with those girls in really special.”
Natalie is excited for the next stage of her life and she says she feel prepared for the challenges of UT Austin.
“My time at SAISD and in the Early College program at Brackenridge has definitely prepared me for college,” she said. “Being a part of the early college program and dealing with my professors and online professors first hand and having that rigorous course work of a college class has helped me greatly. I am so excited to learn and dive into all my interests in college!”