Core Values
WE ARE ROOTED IN GOD'S TRUTH
Only God's truth can make our staff and students people of integrity and wisdom, capable of making a significant impact on their families, their nation, and in the global community. God’s Word is our standard and guide for what is good, true, and beautiful.
WE ARE A CHRIST-CENTERED COMMUNITY
Jesus Christ is our only Savior and the center of our School. We strive to imitate him in loving students and staff, partnering with families, and bringing glory to God in everything we do. We follow the example of Christ in our humility and service towards our neighbor.
WE DEMONSTRATE INTEGRITY
We are committed to operating within a framework of moral and spiritual integrity that is consistent with biblical standards. We strive to build trust among all members of our community.
WE ARE DILIGENT STEWARDS
We follow Christ by working as a team and showing creativity, commitment, and faithful stewardship. We honor the Lord in how we use the resources that He has blessed us with for the good of our school and our community.
WE EDUCATE WITH EXCELLENCE
We deliver our educational services with a level of dedication and performance that honors the Lord. We seek to equip students with the knowledge, abilities, faith, and values that will equip them to be skillful servant leaders. We are lifelong learners together with our students, their families, and our staff.
Mission and Vision: Forming personas íntegras
The school’s mission statement explains why the school exists – to provide a Christ-centered, English-language education – and its greater purpose of shaping the lives of those who will shape the nation. The vision describes the desired future outcome of an SCS education – personas íntegras. The mission and vision are derived from the Board’s Ends Policy.
Mission
Santiago Christian School exists to provide a Christ-centered, English-language education to shape the lives of those who will shape the nation.
Vision
Personas íntegras who reflect Jesus in faith, character, wisdom, and influence
Formando Personas Íntegras
In ancient Rome, the term "curriculum" referred to the course that runners followed in a race. Today, educators use the word in very much the same sense: Schools choose a "curriculum" to set the path their students will follow. At SCS, our curriculum is focused on developing followers of Jesus who are personas íntegras. We seek to set before our students a rigorous sequence of learning that leads them to success along the challenging path to which Jesus has called them--the narrow path that leads to life. Jesus leads his children on a path that brings faith, character, wisdom, influence--a path that shapes personas íntegras.
Jesus leads his children to impeccable character -- strength, discipline, creativity, power. He calls them to wisdom --understanding the world, making wise decisions informed by knowledge and clarified through robust critical thinking skills. He calls them to influence -- loving justice and mercy, walking in humility, inspiring others to follow them. Following Jesus is the journey of a lifetime.
At SCS, students receive a world-class education taught by a faculty of English-speakers trained in the U.S. who are committed to developing each student to their fullest potential. Our students succeed on AP exams, the SAT, and the Pruebas Nacionales (Dominican national exams) and go on to attend excellent colleges across the globe. Our athletes excel in interscholastic competitions. For more than a half a century, our graduates have gone on to become business leaders, physicians, and public servants in government and non-profit organizations. The SCS curriculum takes students down a path of excellent college and career preparation while ultimately serving a much higher purpose: formando personas íntegras, students who follow Jesus on the journey of lifetime, employing their faith, character, wisdom, and influence to shape the nation.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Proverbs 9:10
The person and work of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible is the educational foundation of SCS. Our school verse, Proverbs 9:10, reminds us that an education that provides students with true wisdom and insight must lead them to the Lord, the author of all truth. The Lord is the creator and sustainer of all things, and a complete knowledge and understanding of the world requires a knowledge of the Lord as well. Psalm 24:1 tells us that "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it;" therefore, a Christian education promotes a greater desire to learn about the world that God created. The Bible teaches that each student is precious because he or she was made in the image of God and was made for a relationship with God. Students can only realize their fullest potential in the context of their relationship with the Lord. Therefore, an SCS education encourages and equips students to have a relationship with God and follow Jesus in their daily lives.
All Day, Every Day
Spiritual formation does not happen through a daily or weekly lesson but through a process that continues all day, every day through relationships within our community. At the end of his life, Moses instructed the Israelites in the way to pass on the faith to their children. "These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). Jesus modeled this kind of all day, every day mentoring with his own his disciples.
SCS faculty and staff partner with parents to provide our students with continuous instruction and mentoring in the teachings of Jesus. Just as teachers are required to have educational training and credentials in order to teach students academic subjects, so SCS faculty must also have a passion for Jesus and for teaching students about him. Teachers integrate their faith into all subject areas.