It is DIS’s 65th birthday!!
Theme
This week is our school’s Foundation Week. This year’s theme is D’TORCH 65ers: Believers… Achievers. A Community Journeying Together with St. Dominic.
Every year, DIS commemorates its founding anniversary on December 8th, which also happens to be the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The school has a slogan or theme that represents what the school has accomplished and what it wishes to convey to its stakeholders. This year was different because it is a week-long celebration that would only occur once every 5 years. 2022 is the 65th Jubilee Year.
This year’s design was crafted by Mr. Adrian “Ian” Crisostomo, the head of the Management Information Technology Department. It was decided that Sr. Ma. Zenaida T. Ancheta, O.P., would appear in all programs, commemorating the 65th Jubilee celebration. Here are some of the meanings of the different elements of the slogan for celebration:
Members of the community are referred to as 65ers because they are in their 65th year.
Believers – The community follows St. Dominic’s teachings. The Dominican Order was founded by St. Dominic de Guzman, who is also the patron saint of DIS.
Achievers – All community members are achievers in their own right, whether it is in music, athletics, academics, or the arts.
D’TORCH: The main values of Dominicans are to be Truthful, Organized, Reflective, Courageous, and Helpful and focus on that path.
This week, the school planned all sorts of programs for students to involve in and enjoy. It included all types of activities. There were full-filling events from each department while students were not only learning new knowledge but also having fun at the same time. It included a variety of events, from singing Karaoke to Sports Day to Choral Chants. It was certainly an entertaining week.
Monday
On Monday, students from the middle school created their own choral chants around the values and elements of DIS. All of them did a fantastic job of writing a meaningful poem and an energetic performance while having props and beats to the poem.
There were people with wonderful singing talents on stage during the karaoke. Many students have amazing talent and they were all blowing our minds with their voices.
We listened to wonderful voices during the Communication Arts Department’s Karaoke competition on Monday, December 5th. The middle school Choral Chant Competition was followed by the high school Ethics Olympiad, which required students to work as a team while performing.
Tuesday
An activity such as a sports day can have many benefits. It can demonstrate leadership, teamwork, and communication skills as they interact with team members and face new challenges on a sports day. An event like this would encourage children to collaborate in order to achieve a common goal and win the game.
During sports day, there were many celebrations and activities for the school’s birthday. On sports day, students were having fun watching and playing against not only each other but also the teachers. The gym was full of encouragement and laughter among everyone.
During the afternoon, these teams played against each other
Grade 11 & 12 basketball vs Grade 9 & 10 basketball
Boy Varsity basketball vs teacher
JV girls volleyball team Vs Teachers
Wednesday
On December 7th, Students made posters and presentations about their selected topic from the STEM department. Those topics include science, math, and technology. Teachers incorporated the things that students were learning and students made a poster and explained during their presentation. A lot of the presentations were teamwork, which required students to work together and communicate with each other to get their projects done in the most efficient way.
Thursday
Students attended the mass celebration of our school’s 65th birthday. There was a mass to recognize the meaning of celebrating this week because it’s the founding of our school, along with our school’s Jubilee year.
After the mass, to everyone’s surprise, there was a special guest. It was the NBA champion, eight-time All-Star, eight-time selection to the All-NBA Team, five-time selection to the All-Defensive Team, and three-time Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard!
It was our school’s honor to have him featured in our activities as Dwight Howard could have chosen other schools in Taiwan. He taught us that we could achieve anything if we work hard enough just like how he became an NBA player even if he grew up in a small town in Georgia. We know that we could achieve things once we believe that we can do them!
Friday
Sadly, this was the last day of the celebration, and it was certainly an incredible and entertaining week. In the afternoon, students from K1 to Grade 11 were singing during Christmas Carols and they were all fantastic.
After singing the Christmas Carols, students from Grade 6- Grade 12 were having fun inside their classrooms for a class party. They were all enjoying themselves throughout this week. To end this celebration, the school arranged a concert.
The program was conducted by Ms. Zoe Lin and Mr. Ronaldo Francisco. During the first part of the concert, which was the Orchestra Class, the orchestra played songs such as Feliz Navidad, Michael Jackson Hit Mix, Highlight of Moana, and Pixar Movie Favourites.
During the intermission, there was a guest performer, Brian Mao, an alumnus of DIS. He was in the class of 2014. After graduating from UC Berkeley, he went on to pursue his music career. He performed at our school and also talked to us about how we can achieve anything when we work hard to reach our goals.
After that, Mr. Ronaldo Francisco performed, with the D’TORCH Orchestra. They performed songs: Carols of the Bells, Phantom of the Opera, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Palladio.
Summary
Thank you so much to DIS and all of the people involved to make this a memorable and wonderful week for all of us. Special thanks to the VIP and all the people who contributed to this.
Thank you !
from all the students
