About Us
Dominican International School is a Catholic, private, English medium school owned and governed by the Dominican Sisters.
Dominican International School is a Catholic, private, English medium school owned and governed by the Dominican Sisters.
Dominican International School is a Catholic, private, English medium school owned and governed by the Dominican Sisters. It was formerly a US Government contract (D.O.D.) school for the military dependents of the United States Forces in Taipei. The Sisters are members of the Institute of the Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic, a congregation of Spanish origin with the Motherhouse in Rome, Italy, when at that time their Provincialate House was located in Manila, Philippines.
Permission from the Mother General is obtained to start a school, which will provide Catholic instruction and a good education to American dependents. The First School provides tuition for Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2. A small house in Chang-An Tung Road is rented for this purpose.
His Excellency, Most Reverend Anthony Riberi, D.D., Apostolic Internuncio to China, blesses the school. The name, Dominican School, is suggested by Fr. Bain, Jesuit, who is a Chaplain of the US Armed Forces stationed in Taipei. Sister Nieves Tenderro, O.P., the first Dominican School Principal, along with three Filipino Sisters: Sr. Leonor Flores, Sr. Patrocinio Salonga and Sr. Enriqueta Gonzalez, start to teach the first 16 registered students.
The number has grown to 76 students and two more Dominican Sisters from the Philippines join the Faculty.
A larger house is rented in Liung Chung Street and Grade 3 is introduced. A team of American Educators (Superintendents of Schools) from Washington, DC arrive. They examine the teaching qualifications of the Sisters, the curriculum, teaching methodology and the textbooks used by the students. The American educators agree to recognize the efforts of the sisters to provide an excellent education to American dependents. It results in the Dominican School becoming a US Government Contract School: D.O.D. (Department of Defense School).
A bigger building is rented. Three more grades, fourth, fifth and sixth, are introduced, and more Sisters arrive from the Philippines. A large property is purchased that becomes the permanent location of Dominican School.
A Dominican priest blesses the first cornerstone in a simple ceremony.
Classes start in the new school building.
His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Tien, S.V.D., D.D. solemnly blesses the school.
Grade 7 and 8 students are admitted and additional Sisters come from the Philippines. The enrollment reaches 600.
The school is ten years old, enrollment reaches 800 and Grade 9 students are admitted for the first time.
With the withdrawal of the American Forces from Taipei, Dominican School becomes an international school that allows all nationalities to register. The modified American curriculum remains in place.
The Bureau of Education grants the school permission to offer complete High School courses.
The school has its first Senior High graduates. Students start to enter colleges/universities in Taiwan and abroad.
With the prominence of the Internet and technology in the 21st Century, DIS’s initial electronic curriculum is completed. This new system makes the curriculum available online to all stakeholders. The development of the curriculum is an ongoing process. Full computerization of many important records, such as report cards and grades, which started in 2004, is now fully integrated into the daily operation of the school.
The gymnasium, cafeteria, and the west wing of the main building are demolished to make way for the construction of new school buildings that are more suitable for 21st Century education, making provision for advanced technology.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new construction is blessed by Archbishop John Hung, S.V.D.
Construction of the new building starts.
Phase One, which includes classrooms, an audio-visual room, an art room, science laboratories, and a brand new library, is complete and new technology is installed.
This date marks the day of blessing the newly improved sports field and introduction of the school’s new Expected School-wide Learning Results (ESLRs),“D’ TORCH”. The acronym “D’TORCH” stands for Dominicans are Truthful, Organized, Reflective, Courageous and Helpful. It is launched at a celebration coinciding with the Feast of Our Lady of The Rosary.
The Chinese New Year of the Sheep heralds with great joy the Blessing of the new image of “young” Saint Dominic, by Father Christopher Jeffrey L. Aytona, O.P., as our new landmark. The Young St Dominic symbolizes our continuous efforts to give more years of inspiring service to our school. He bears our ESLRs on the flames of the torch. These flames signify giving light to everyone in the same manner that we are taught by the Biblical verse, “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
The school went through the process of accreditation. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is the accrediting body for the western region of the United States, where invited to facilitate the process for evaluating and assuring the quality of education that DIS have.
“The Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC) determined Dominican International School (K - 12) meets the ACS WASC criteria for accreditation. This accreditation status is based on all of the information provided by the school, including the self-study report, and the satisfactory completion of the on-site accreditation visit. “ These are the words from the letter Sr. Zenaida T. Ancheta, OP, The Principal, received from ACS WASC.
DIS acquires interactive boards for all classrooms.
Sr. Ma. Zenaida Ancheta, OP, the Directress/Principal, and Sr. Evelyn Quidoles, OP, the School Treasurer, spearheaded the acquisition of interactive boards from Smart Technologies last July 12, 2017. With the support of the generous Dominican Sisters, they thought that the academic community must be provided with necessary equipment to further enhance teaching-learning methodologies. All instructional rooms including computer and science laboratories were provided, making DIS Taipei 100 percent equipped with interactive boards.
Sr. Ma. Zenaida T. Ancheta, OP, the directress/principal led the pulling of ribbon to officially open the new facilities of DIS Taipei. Each ribbon was reprented by the stakeholders of DIS namely, Sr. Ma. Asunción González, OP, General Prioress of the Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic, His Excellency, Most Rev. Fr. John Hung, SVD Archbishop of Taipei, Fr. Giuseppe Silvestrini Attaché of the Apostolic Nunciature, Sr. Cecilia Hsu, OP, Provincial Prioress of the Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic, Sr. Ma. Zenaida Ancheta, OP, Principal of DIS Taipei, Sr. Margarita Lin, O.P. representative of Sisters of Dazhi Community, Mr. Jimmy Chu, representative of DIS faculty & staff, Ms. Yvonne Hsu, representative of DIS parents & alumni, Mr. Hiro Fu, Student Council president, Mr. Daniel Huang, architect, Mr. Xue Ren Chien, chairperson of the Fu-Chu Construction Company and Mr. Yong Zai Kuo, assistant vice president of the Taiwan Power (Tai Dong) Company.
Blessing and Dedication Ceremony of the School Chapel in the Sisters’ Convent. Most Reverend Msgr. John Hung, Archbishop of Taipei, presided over the Rite of Dedication of the Church and the Altar along with the Dominican fathers as con-celebrants and Dominican sisters.
Inaugural Concert at the gymnasium culminated the week long celebration. Inggo 1587, a musical band composed of Dominican Fathers namely Fathers Auckhs, Guiseppe, Dennis, Jeffrey, Napoleon and Joemar, Jeff Aytona performed in the said concert. Other artists who gave outstanding performances were our own skating champion students, Joanna, Jessica and Janice Chan, the Hong de Lion Dance Theatre, Taiwan Ballet Company, Giovanni Cueto, and Rash Juzen. The concert ended with DIS Orchestra rendering musical pieces conducted by Ms. Zoe Lin.
D’TORCH Campus Radio was established. It is a radio station that broadcasts live audio for 12 hours a day through Mixlr. Mixlr gives the opportunity to transmit using the Broadcast Software and share own live audio broadcasts to other users over the Internet.
DIS joins the National Junior Honors Society. The National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) elevates a school’s commitment to the values of scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship. These five pillars have been associated with membership in the organization since its inception in 1929. NJHS chapters and students are in schools that care not only about student achievement, but also community engagement. Directress / Principal Sr. Ma. Zenaida T. Ancheta, OP chose Mr. Elliott Wakeling to supervise the DIS NJHS chapter.
DIS was visited by Colegio San Agustin Schools (Makati City and Biñan, Laguna branches, both from cities from the Philippines). Both schools are co-educational basic institutions run by the Order of Saint Augustine.
The Robotics Curriculum was launched. This advancement in the field of ICT was supported by the Dominican Sisters led by the Directress/Principal, Sr. Ma. Zenaida Ancheta, O.P. It was offered from Grade four to grade eight students.
The New House System was launched. Directress / Principal Sr. Ma. Zanaida T. Ancheta, OP officially approved the new house system which complements the SLO’s of DIS. The house is divided into five - Truthful Scarlets, Organized Emerald, Reflective Sapphire, Courageous Gold, and Helpful Carnelians.
DIS hosted an East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) professional learning weekend. The presenters were Mr. Reeves Rodrigues, Mr. Josh Myers, Dr. Mercia de Souza, Ms. Rebecka Owens, and Dr. Stephen Redillas, OP. The pre-conference keynote speaker was Fr. Jeff Aytona, OP. The keynote speaker was Ms. Alisa Simeral.
DIS was visited by Dominican School, Manila, Philippines. Dominican School Manila was founded in 1958. It is a private school run by Dominican Sisters.
DIS celebrated its 61st Foundation Anniversary with the theme “We are ONE @ 61!”.
DIS Taipei joins a fundraising musical concert entitled “Sonata of Love” of Dominican International School Kaohsiung. The D’TORCH Orchestra performed at the DIS Kaohsiung. They did several orchestral music conducted by Ms. Zoe Lin.
DIS was visited by Aquinas School, San Juan City, Philippines.. Aquinas School is a private Catholic all-boys basic education institution run by the Philippine Dominican Province of the Order of Preachers in San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was founded in 1965 and named after Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of all Catholic schools and universities.
Fr. Paco Carin, CMF led the blessing and inauguration of Our Lady of the Rosary kiosk and its covered-walk. Our Lady of the Rosary kiosk is situated at the center of the grass area, between the two buildings-Building A and C.
DIS was awarded champions of the first ever U9 3X3 Basketball Tournament under TISSA. The Team was coached by Dr. Gustl Pido, whose players were Tyler Chen, Victor Jun, Wilson Wu, and Howard Chou.
The school created a new laboratory for the purpose of learning robotics. This room is situated on the ground floor beside the Audio-Visual Room. The laboratory is equipped with 31 units of Dell OptiPlex 7450 All-In-One computer. Aside from computers, DIS provided STEAM education robots that make teaching and learning robot programming simple and fun.
A group of 12 final year ELED students from Chinese University of Hong Kong had a teaching practice at DIS. The group was assigned to teach English Language, including English for Academic Purposes, English Language Learning, as well as Language Arts. Student levels range from primary one to secondary four.
DIS was visited again by St. Catherine’s Academy of Carcar, Cebu, Philippines.
The second Science and Religion Conference was held. The conference title was “The Dialogue Continues”.
DIS celebrated its 62nd Foundation Anniversary.
DIS is recognized as one of the TEN Best Schools in Taiwan by the Knowledge Review Magazine. The Knowledge Review is an international education magazine for universities, students, teachers and parents offering news, blogs, articles and courses from the best universities.
Blessing of the new playground by Fr. Tomasz Zalewski, OP. The new playground is located near the school clinic. Fr. Tomasz is the school chaplain.
DIS had the WASC mid-cycle blended visit. Due to the global pandemic it was decided to have a blended visit instead of the usual physical visit. Mr. Bill Christelman the chairperson from the previous visit (March 2017) had a virtual conference with the stakeholders via Zoom since he could not make it physically. Mr. Christelman had a virtual tour of the new facilities spearheaded by Mr. Ian Crisostomo, the MIT Head. The MIT Team created a dashboard for the visiting committee members. Being the other member of visiting committee, Mr. Christian Choquette, Curriculum and Accreditation Coordinator at Hsinchu International School visited DIS on October 20, 2020. He was very impressed with the facilities.
Establishment of Dominican Laity St. Martin de Porres Chapter at DIS. Sr. Ma. Zenaida T. Ancheta, OP is their religious assistant while Fr. Tomasz Zalewski, OP is the spiritual companion.
STRON63R Together - It has been sixty-three years of providing quality and gospel-centered education to different races in Taipei. It was a pandemic year for most countries; however, 2020 was indeed a remarkable year for the school because it was able to celebrate its 63rd foundation anniversary. The theme was “STRON63R Together” (with 63 instead of GE) which means “DIS as a family, we grow stronger as we spend time together”.
DIS won both the Javelin Boys and Girls Categories at TISSA Track and Field Championships. This marks a milestone for DIS as well as the TISSA Tournament that siblings from one school won the championships for Javelin category. Receiving Gold medals were Brandon Huang and Camelia Huang.
DIS had its first ever virtual graduation. Mr. Joe Schoeman, Academics and Curriculum Coordinator presented the graduates to the Directress / Principal Sr. Ma. Zenaida T. Ancheta, OP. She declared them, Batch 2021 officially graduates. Winnie Chao, an alumnus, gave the commencement address.
DIS had 65th Jubilee Anniversary with the theme “DIS: 65ers… Achievers… Believers… A Community Journeying Together with St. Dominic”.
Dwight Howard, a former NBA player graced the celebration. He played with Taoyuan Leopards of the T1 League. Fortunately, December 8, is also his birthday. It was his wish to celebrate his 37th year with youngs kids.
The WASC visiting committee visited DIS. The visiting committee members were Ms. Tiffeney Brown, Chairperson, Ms. Donnabelle Atienza, Mr. Dominic Ungson Villanueva, and Mr. Christopher Goode.
Dominican International School continues to strive not only to provide excellent education to all students, regardless of race, color and creed, but also to provide service in the light and spirit of Saint Dominic.
