Senior Spotlight: Andrew Cai 

All his life, no matter the activity, senior Andrew Cai says that he has struggled to receive and implement feedback in his work.  

Nowhere has this battle been more prevalent than when he chose to pursue kendo, a modern Japanese martial art.  

Every time he went to practice, Cai had to spar opponents of all ages and levels. He says he soon realized that to improve he would have to learn from his peers and merge their advice into his own game. 

“For a while, whenever someone gave me constructive feedback, I tended to overthink it and believed that they were trying to be condescending,” Cai said. “But kendo has really taught me to take feedback as is and just learn from it to improve yourself.” 

Kendo is only one of Cai’s many activities, as he enjoys marketing, making films, playing the piano, swimming and helping run a community service program.  

All of these extracurriculars, along with the people involved in them, helped shape Cai into not only a good student but also an overall better person, according to Upper and Middle School Video Production Director Corbin Doyle. 

Cai notes that Doyle is one of the people who has driven his improvement.  

“Mr. Doyle is a big inspiration because without him, I wouldn’t have enjoyed video production as much as I did,” Cai said. “He gives me the encouragement to keep going and to excel with every project, no matter what that is.” 

Filmmaking 

Following his parents’ suggestion, Cai joined the Video Production class his freshman year with no more ambition than completing a mandatory art credit. But he soon developed a love for filmmaking.  

“As a teacher, there’re just some students that are more attached to the process than others,” said Doyle. “Andrew is one of those dudes who is always connected to the process.” 

To make the best films possible during his freshman year, Cai needed to team up with another film student. 

He found this help through current senior Ali Agha, and their four-year partnership was created. From then on, Cai and Agha co-directed all their films together, relying on each other throughout the process.  

“He’s the only reason any of my ideas will end up in film,” Agha said.  

For the end of their senior year, Cai and Agha have decided to take on the ambitious project of creating an anthology, which is a series of short films that all connect through a frame story. 

One thing that Cai, Agha and their third partner, Fern Hignite, want to achieve through their anthology is realistic horror visual effects. 

“I want to end senior year with a really good film, kind of like a capstone for my three years in Advanced Video Production,” said Cai. 

Volunteer Work 

Using his experience in filmmaking, Cai has found an off-campus use for his talent through the Nihao Food Bank Initiative. This volunteer-driven organization is run by Chinese Americans and has the goal of raising awareness about hunger in North Texas. 

After learning about the organization from current senior Harris Xie, Cai joined the organization as a volunteer. 

After a few years, Cai says he realized that he could help more people if he applied for an official position in the organization rather than just coming to help from time to time. Cai took a position in the marketing department and later applied to be the executive vice president of marketing. 

He got this position last summer and drew on his film skills by attending events and filming anything interesting. Cai began editing the videos into short-form content for various social media platforms. 

“We’ve seen that work translated to some of our big events, like the charity concert last year that had thousands of people show up, including the mayor,” said Xie. “He regularly films our events and advertisements. He’s always been passionate.” 

Balancing Work 

Being involved in a plethora of extracurricular activities causes Cai to have a grueling schedule.  

On weekdays, Cai says he wakes up at 7 a.m. to get ready for school. After his school day, he heads to swim practice or, on Fridays, kendo practice from 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Immediately after working out, he heads home to shower and eat dinner before starting on his homework. Cai works on his assignments until around 11 p.m. and then goes to bed. 

On Saturdays Cai practices kendo from 3:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. and on Sunday mornings he takes piano lessons for an hour. 

“The biggest challenge with my demanding schedule is time management,” said Cai. “Recently I’ve been finding myself using my phone for too long. When I’ve been on it for over an hour, I try and hide my phone, whether that’s in my pocket or behind a stack of books. If it’s just out of sight, it’s out of mind.” 

Cai has learned many lessons like time management, receiving feedback and being more accepting, specifically through kendo. 

“My kendo dojo is very diverse and there are people of all ages and levels, so you are bound to run into opposite political views or any other disagreement,” said Cai. “Because of that you have to learn to hear other perspectives and be more open to different opinions, which I think is something everybody could work on.” 

Future Plans 

Cai recently got accepted to Emory University in Atlanta, where he plans to study marketing. He  says he wants to minor in economics or data-science.  

“The reason why Emory was my number one choice is because it has different concentrations within business majors that you could do, called area depths,” said Cai. “The area depth I’m doing is Film and Media Management so there’ll be classes about film and how business connects to that.” 

Xie says he is certain that Cai will be successful. 

“He’s learned under some very experienced adult mentors who have taught him a lot about marketing,” said Harris Xie. “I think all of his prior experience will definitely help him out in college.” 

Cai has already decided some of the clubs and extra-curriculars he would like to join.  

“[Emory] has like an AVP adjacent club called ETV and I will be joining that,” said Cai. “Atlanta has multiple kendo dojos. I already talked to my sensei and he said he would connect me with some, since he travels a lot.” 

When college classes start and his workload increases, Cai anticipates having to make some sacrifices. 

“I would most likely be dropping piano lessons,” Cai said. “But Emory has practice rooms, and I have a repertoire of pieces memorized, so I will still be playing those in my free time.” 

Once fully settled in Atlanta, Cai hopes to find employment. 

“I’m hoping to get a job that utilizes being creative while also using the quantitative skills that marketing has to bring.” 

Atlanta has a lot of media-intensive companies like CNN and Coca-Cola, a major donor for Emory, and some of them would require a marketing degree. Cai says that all of these future opportunities are exciting as he wants to continue his passion in film. 

“In the next 10 years, I hope to graduate and get a job where I can use quantitative skills, while also continuing to use the creative skills Greenhill and AVP gave me,” Cai said in a text message. “I also hope to be working in Hollywood in the marketing sector, or as a director, so I can continue my passions and also expand my skillset.”