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About St. Viator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
A brief history of St. Viator Catholic High School

Origin 

    In Spring 1951 upon his return to New York from Taiwan for vacation, Bishop William Francis Kupfer (1909-1998) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Taichung met Rev. Roger C. Drolet (1903-2001), chairperson of the Far Eastern Branch of Clerics of Saint Viator (CSV) on his return journey. In this meeting, Bishop Kupfer learned more about the founding aim of the CSV: to spread Catholicism and promote education at the same time. As Rev. Drolet was on his way to inspect St. Viator Rakusei Junior and Senior High School in Japan, Bishop Kupfer invited him to stop by Taiwan before heading for Japan and told him that the diocese would provide land for the CSV to establish a school in Taiwan. This is the origin of the founding of St. Viator Catholic High School in Taichung.

 

Onset 

    Later on, the CSV built a “staff quarters” on No. 1 Gezhi Road and a two-story building on Wuquan Road as the “preparatory office” in the North District, Taichung City. Due to a shortage of staff members, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Taichung requested human resource support from the Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist in Jingmei, Taipei City. The Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist thus sent Brother Hei-ye (Hok-cang) Leung from Hong Kong to help found the school in Taichung. For this reason, the connection between the Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist and St. Viator Catholic High School started much earlier and was deeper than was commonly known to the public.
    Referring to the founding plan, the school would recruit 1,000 students from across Taiwan in different years, including 800 boarding students (only 200 vacancies were opened for students living near the school in Taichung City). The school was built on a piece of farmland located between Daya Road and Beitun Road. As the price was only NT$20 per 3.30579m2 then, the school bought about 3 hectares (2.90976 ha.) of land. The architectural design of the school was imported from Canada by Fr. Quintal of the CSV, who took charge of the general affairs of school construction. The construction project was undertaken by Lugenji Construction Co., Ltd. in Taipei. Six months later, the U-shape classroom building of phase I was completed, and the student hall, study building, Western kitchen, canteen, sports ground (with standard 400m tracks), basketball courts (10), and swimming pool were completed one after another. By that time, the construction of the major school equipment was complete.
    As the Department of Education of the Taiwan Provincial Government was relocated to Zhongxing New Village in Nantou in 1955, the school quickly completed the legal establishment procedure as the first private high school ever registered to the Department of Education and the first Catholic boys’ high school in Taiwan.


Establishment

    As the result of the provincial joint entrance examination for high schools being published in July, St. Viator could recruit students on its own in August 1955. To the school’s surprise, over 800 students applied for admissions to the school. As it needed four examination venues to accommodate those applicants, apart from the classrooms on the campus, we borrowed classrooms from the Duxing, Guangfu, and Renai elementary schools for the entrance examination. In addition, we needed to ask support from clergypersons of the diocese and the Society of Jesus as invigilators of the examination. For the first year of school operations, a total of 140 students were recruited in four classes for the junior and high school sections.
    The first staff meeting was held at the end of August. Brother Leung hosted the meeting on behalf of Father Gu Zheng, the school’s original principal who was absent for personal reasons. After heated discussions, attendees decided on the principle of “strict discipline and strict education” so as to set up good school spirit. In addition, becoming “academically elite” has become the teaching and management goal of teaching staff of both the junior and senior high school sections. When the school began in September, Father Feng-tong Chu became the principal with Father Zhen-duo Wu as the first chairperson (1955-1956). In less than a year Father Chu resigned from his principal office due to personal career plans. In the following two years, the principal post was vacant, and it was not until 1957 that Father Paul Shi-guang Cheng (1915-2012) filled the principal post, with Father Li-shan Chao as the second chairperson (1956-1991). 
    Father Cheng actively strengthened the faculty to continuously improve the quality of teaching. After three years of great efforts and adding a variety of school equipment each year, Father Cheng set a solid foundation for the school’s future development. On 28 May 1960, Father Cheng resigned from the school after being promoted to become the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Taipei. In the following year, the principal post was vacant again until Rev. Roger C. Drolet CSV came to Taiwan to hire Father Yong-qing Wang (originally from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yongping in China who later joined the CSV), who was then serving at Huaming Bookstore, as the third principal of St. Viator. Under the leadership of Father Wang, school performance was improving with outstanding achievements, and the student body grew to 1,500.


Relocation

    In the urban renewal project implemented in 1977, as Jinhua North Road penetrated and bisected the campus, the school decided to move the campus to Siping Road. After planning and relocation in the next five years, St. Viator finally settled at the current address (No. 161, Siping Road, Beitun District, Taichung City) in May 1983. As the relocation involved comprehensive affairs, Father Wang broke down from constant overwork and eventually resigned in June. As many young Viatorians turned to South America, which was rather backward then, and clergypersons staying in Taiwan were either old or not in the best shape, none of them wanted to take up Father Wang’s job before his resignation. With great capacity and experience, therefore, Father Wang wrote to the CSV in Canada to express his own view: “We all are servants of God, can we take things easier? Why can’t we hand over the school to a Taiwanese seminary that wishes to run the school impartially and selflessly, so as to continue our education service for youth?” A quick reply came from an international call, “When promoting education overseas, we, the CSV, never think of expanding our influence elsewhere in the world, but of educating local youth. If a Taiwanese seminary would devote them to youth education, let them do it. This is what we aim for and our ideal.” The proposal was also approved by headquarters in Rome. On July 1, therefore, Father Wang officially handed over St. Viator to the Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist of Taiwan. Father Ya-Bo Zhao, who was the chairperson of the Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist of Taiwan, became the fourth principal of St. Viator. During his time in office, Father Zhao recruited great teachers and encouraged academics, with an emphasis on humanities, information science, and science education, hoping to raise academic quality and character education at the same time. In 1987, St. Viator began recruiting girl students at the “senior high section”. In the following year, the school also recruited girl students at the “junior high section” and added the “junior high fine art class” (accepting both boys and girls). From then on, school operations began to diversify. Also, the number of both classes and students increased every year. Today, St. Viator has developed into a big school with 3,600 students in 24 senior high classes and 45 junior high classes. In 1991, Bishop Joseph Yu-Rong Wang became the third chairperson of St. Viator, continuing to this day.

 

Excellence

    In August 1995, Vice Principal Zheng-fei Qi became the principal after Father Zhao retired. As the fifth principal of St. Viator, Principal Qi began his youth education plan. To enrich school equipment and improve students’ scientific literacy, Principal Qi built the “integrated laboratory building.”on 1996. In addition, to commemorate Father Frédéric-Vincent Lebbe, the founder of The Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist, Principal Qi named the building the “Lebbe Building”. In 2002, Principal Qi built the “language center building” to broaden the school’s international view and improve the English skills of students. To commemorate John the Baptist, Principal Qi named the language center the “St. John Building.”

 

Transcendence

    After Principal Qi retired in 2005, Dean Zheng-quan Li of student affairs became the sixth principal of St. Viator. On the basis of the following five major goals: “holistic education, varied learning, warm campus, parenting education, social concerns, and agile administration,” Principal Li hoped to turn St. Viator into a first-class school. After Principal Li retired in July 2011, Dean Qiu-min Chen of academic affairs became the seventh principal of St. Viator.
     Principal Chen was the first female dean of academic affairs and principal of St. Viator. Facing huge social changes, constantly renewing education policies, and the impact of low fertility, instead of striving “to be the first”, Principal Chen re-positioned St. Viator’s future development to “create uniqueness” (to have unique features). In addition, based on the concept of “keeping heritage with innovations and making innovations with heritage”, Principal Chen established six school policies: setting the roots for holistic education, building a warm campus, enforcing love and service, multiple and adaptive development, self-development of teaching expertise, and building an excellent team.
   
From then on, apart from upholding the “service for youth” founding aim of the CSV, Principal Chen has followed the ideals of “total devotion, true love for people, forever joy” advocated by Father Lebbe, founder of the Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist. Principal Chen will lead all members of St. Viator to realize the “good influence for students” and “mutual actualization” educational ideals and to achieve the goal of “self-optimization”.