Taipei American School (TAS) welcomes Ms. Evelyne Estey (she/her) as the interim head of school for the 2023-2024 school year. Ms. Estey has an extensive background in education. Before coming to TAS, she was the head of school at Lycée Français de New York.

“I love the head of school job, I’m passionate about education,” Ms. Estey said. “While looking for an opportunity outside of the United States, where I have lived for 40 years, I discovered an opening at TAS.”

Although her time in Taiwan has been brief so far, she observes that it is a very different environment in comparison to the other countries she used to live in, including New York City and Paris. “There are no snow days, rather, typhoon days!” she said. Besides experiencing Taiwan’s temperamental weather, Ms. Estey has been enjoying the liveliness of Taiwanese culture and the safe metropolitan, Taipei. 

As interim head of school, one big project Ms. Estey has been getting involved in is the self-study project for The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) because the 2023-2024 school year is an accreditation year for TAS, where TAS will be reviewed for the quality of its programs. She has been working alongside Deputy Head of School Liz Gale, who leads the project. She has also been tasked with assisting the next Head of School, David Frankenberg, in his transition for the 2024-2025 school year. 

Ms. Estey is excited to explore more of the community at TAS. “I want to visit as many classrooms as I can,” Ms. Estey said. “I want to visit and see as many performances, games, and practices as I can to get a good sense of the co-curricular life of students.” In this pursuit, one event that Ms. Estey is most excited about attending is the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asia Schools (IASAS) basketball tournament that is being held at TAS during the season two sports. 

In turn, the TAS community has been very welcoming to the new interim Head of School. “It’s really exciting to see the students walk into school. Every so often, the Lower School students greet me with a ‘Bonjour,’” she said. “It’s very cute.”

As she reflects on her time at TAS so far, Ms. Estey is filled with gratitude. “I would love to thank everyone in the community that I’ve had the great fortune of meeting for their kindness and care in welcoming me,” she said. “It has made my job and transition into TAS wonderfully easy.”

Note: Checked over by Ms. Estey for factual accuracy and revisions