Kaiqi Cen is a senior at Jonathan Alder. He is a member of the symphonic choir and is a forward on the soccer team. He has been at Alder since 7th grade and is now also attending Tolles. We sat down with him for our 24 with ‘24 interview series.

Q: What’s your favorite memory of your time at Alder?

A:  I don’t really have a favorite memory, but I think my time with all my friends and the time that I’ve spent this year has to be my favorite.

Q: What are three things you can’t live without?

A: My phone, my family, and my job

Other articles in this series

24 with '24: Andrew Heisler

24 with ’24: Avery and Jaxsyn Murdock

24 with '24: Tara Coffee

24 with '24: Paige King

Q: What’s one thing people don’t know about you?

A: I don’t have anything that I keep from people. I mostly tell everyone everything and don’t like keeping anything a secret.

Q: How would you define yourself in three words?

A: Nice, funny, and helpful

Q: What was your last dream?

A: To become a firefighter, but my mom was really worried about what would happen to me, so I’ve decided to try and be an EMT.

Q: If you made a documentary, what would it be about and why?

A: About my whole life and how I was born in China and how my mom took me from there to here and how my life is going and maybe about how one day I might go back to China.

Q: Last piece of content you consumed that made you cry?

A: Um, probably my videos my dad took when I was young and all the stories I learned that my dad told me while we were watching it with me playing around. They just made me cry with tears of joy for how far I’ve come.

Q: Song you can listen to on repeat?

A: I don’t know if I listen to a lot of songs and could listen to like 100 songs a day so I don’t really have one song that I listen to on repeat.

Q:If you could switch lives with someone for a day, who would it be?

A:  My mom, cause I feel bad when she tells me she’s having a hard time but I can’t really feel it, so I think that if I were to be able to switch lives with her for a day and see how she felt I would be able to understand her better and know what she needs.

Q:. Dream country to visit?

A: I don’t know, if there’s a chance, maybe one day I’ll go back to China and visit my family there–my cousins and my grandma.

Q: What’s the biggest surprise you’ve had?

A: When I was young, I was bullied and was feeling sad, and one day my parents came and said we were going to move to the U.S. I was really surprised and had no idea that my life would be the way that it is.

Q: What 3 people living or dead would you like to make dinner for?

A: My grandpa on my mom’s side, because he died, and probably my mom and dad for everything they have done for me.

Q: The most adventurous thing you’ve done in your life?

A: Probably leaving China and coming here; it was really scary, but I was excited at the same time, so it made the trip really fun.

Q: What would you like to be remembered for?

A: I would like to be remembered as a good person. I think that I’ve been very kind to people and I hope that what I’ve done has had a positive impact on them.