SRHS Top Scholar
Public school graduations and promotions are taking place across Scripps Ranch this week, and none are more prominent than the annual commencement ceremony at Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS). Leading the SRHS class of 2026 is valedictorian Ryan Cai.
In addition, three SRHS scholars earned the title of 2026 SRHS salutatorian: Khushee Goel, 4.88 GPA; Parth Saxena, 4.88 GPA; and Peyton Quynh Thai, 4.88 GPA.
SRHS valedictorian Ryan Cai shared his experiences, advice and future plans in this exclusive interview:
Ryan Cai, 4.91 GPA
Cai will be attending Yale University this fall, majoring in computer science and mathematics.
“I chose Yale because there is a diverse community of people there. The students are willing to have discussions about many different topics, even though they are so specialized in one subject,” he said.
Cai considers himself a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) person. His involvement at SRHS and off-campus activities reflects his interests.
At SRHS, he served as the president of the math organization in his senior year.
“I was a part of the Math Club for all four years at SRHS. It was nice to meet people who were passionate about math,” Cai said. “We went to many local competitions during my time with the club, such as the San Diego Honors Math contest.”
He has participated in the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) run by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) every year since middle school.
“The AMC is a prestigious exam that takes place once a year nationwide. The exam assesses one’s ability for creative thinking and advanced problem solving with math. I spent many hours over several months practicing for this exam,” Cai said. “The top 5 percent of test takers for the AMC qualify for the American Invitational Mathematics Exam. I qualified every year.”
He served as a coach for the Thurgood Marshall Middle School Math Counts all four years of high school.
“Math Counts is a middle school math team competition program. I went to Marshall Middle School, so I wanted to do this as a way to give back. I taught the classes for the team. I registered the team in competitions,” Cai said.
Outside of his involvement with math, Cai ran on the SRHS varsity cross country and varsity track and field team for two years.
“I had to stop running, unfortunately, due to an injury. However, running on those two teams taught me resilience and perseverance through challenges. I learned how to find internal motivation through those experiences,” he said.
Cai shared his advice to current and future high school students.
“You usually have more time than you think. If you can optimize your schedule, you can fit more in than you think. It is important to have healthy habits as well,” he said. “For incoming students, I think it is important to explore as much as possible. It is important to be well-rounded and something I wish I put more emphasis on. Go into everything with an open mind.”
As his time at SRHS nears an end, he wanted to express his gratitude to two teachers.
“Mr. Batchelor was my calculus teacher. He made the subject fun with the way he taught. I really enjoyed his class,” Cai said. “Mrs. Scalero was my English teacher in my freshman and senior year. Even though I have always been more into STEM, she taught those English classes very well. She really encouraged deeper thinking about the themes we covered.”