2022 Year in Review: A Year of the Tiger Worth Roaring About

By The TAS Communications Department, Ina C. '25 and Ariel L. '24, Fall 2022 Communications Interns  

2022 was a fantastic year! The powerhouse of creativity, critical thinking, and celebration that is our TAS community ended the year of the Tiger on a high note. We are delighted to reflect on some of the incredible experiences we shared.  

There were, of course, some challenges. However, the strength of our community is not simply derived from overcoming these obstacles or finding a way to cope with a new challenge. Instead, it lies in how we came together to truly thrive, on or off campus, as we pursued the excellent educational experience that TAS provides. We have certainly had a year of growth, joy, and thriving.  

Let's look at what we've enjoyed together over the last year!  

In 2022, we welcomed the return of the in-person IASAS competition! While students competed virtually in IASAS Chess in January (and took the gold!) and in December, in-person matches resumed in the fall for volleyball, soccer, and cross country. TAS gave a historic showing at these competitions, with all teams returning with medals! The Boys' Cross Country team finished 1st through 6th in the 5KM competition, a feat never-before-seen in the 40 years of IASAS history. And the IASAS Cultural Convention in the spring gave our Art, Music, Drama, Dance, Speech & Debate, and Forensics students a time to shine!   

Visiting writers, artists, and speakers spent time with TAS virtually and in person, including U.S. Congressman Greg Stanton! Here are some visitors who delighted students, employees, parents, and alums. 

Abigail Hing Wen kicked off our visits for the year with an in-person appearance to speak with students, parents, and alums about her bestselling book Loveboat Taipei, soon to be a major motion picture.   

Thanks to a generous PTA grant, Yosifu, a rising contemporary artist on the international stage, now living in Edinburgh, Scotland, visited TAS. Sharing his perspective as an artist and a member of the Amis People – an indigenous Austronesian ethnic group native to Taiwan– he gave a series of talks. During his two-day visit, he led interactive, artistic workshops for faculty, staff, and students (and parents via live-stream).   

Emily Wu, CEO and co-founder of Ghost Island Media, an award-winning podcast network based in Taipei, dropped in to speak with members of our student publication, The Blue & Gold. A multilingual content creation studio, Ghost Island shares Taiwan's unique perspective with the rest of the world in English, Mandarin, and French.  

In April, Charles Yu, author of Interior Chinatown, Zoomed in for a conversation with over 100 upper school students and faculty. Yu won the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction for his novel. He detailed his experiences of forsaking a law career for what turned out to be a very successful foray into writing and encouraged budding novelists to follow their dreams.  

Celebrated author and classicist Madeline Miller joined us for a virtual visit in October for two days of discussion on her novels Song of Achilles & Circe. She offered valuable insight on how, viewed through the lens of female empowerment and what we now know about PTSD, students of myth and legend can gain a deeper understanding of women's roles and heroes like Odysseus.   

In addition to these visiting speakers and authors, the TAS PTA funded eight projects, including visiting dancers, artists, and conversation groups for parents!  

Tigers welcomed Ahronglong Sakinu (亞榮隆・撒可努), a much-lauded Taiwanese Indigenous writer, to work with the Upper School Mandarin program students on the mindset of becoming a hunter. His talks focused on exploring his identity as Paiwan and using Indigenous literature as a cultural revitalization practice. Over 150 students attended his three sessions.    

Doing our part to help assuage the COVID-19 Pandemic meant turning our center of learning into a center of vaccination. Taipei American School provided the first and second COVID-19 vaccines on our campus to consenting middle and upper school students as part of a more extensive governmental vaccination program aimed at increasing the vaccination rate of the younger demographic in Taiwan.  

The TAS Communications Department welcomed students into our internship program. They wrote website articles, took photos, created videos, and posted them on social media on behalf of the school. The students enjoyed gaining real-world experience, and our social media presence benefitted from their fresh perspective.  

Upper School Drama Director Austin Farwell fostered a triumphant performance of Shakespeare's Macbeth as we finally opened campus productions to parents, family, and friends.

And The TAS Upper School Dance production of "Beautiful Dreamer" transported audience members to a magical world of beauty, elegance, power, and intrigue.  

Whether on the athletic field, in the classroom, on stage, or in the art studio, TAS faculty, staff, and students are proud of our many achievements in 2022. We see it as a celebration of our diligent effort and triumphant success. And we recognize occasional failures are merely bumps in the road to our shared future.  

So come on, Tigers, take a bow. And let us hear your roar!