International Student Success Stories
international student testimonials hero
international student testimonials hero
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cc e
IB Diploma Dux

Christina Cai IB Diploma Dux for 2023

Christina arrived at Dio in 2020, and then was unable to return home as COVID shut NZ’s borders. Her resilience and determination to make the best of things in that and subsequent years speaks volumes for Christina’s strength of character. Christina is an outstanding student who consistently achieves scores across all her subjects at the top of the range. Christina has an exemplary commitment to her studies and is a student who brings a wealth of original and thought-provoking contributions to her classes, but she remains humble and grateful for the support of those around her.

Outside of the classroom Christina has fostered the sharing of her culture as part of the Chinese Cultural group and given back supporting younger International Students as the Deputy Head of International students.

Be more than you ever imagined.

We hope you enjoy reading some of the successes our students have recently enjoyed. We’re very proud of our girls who are fantastic examples of our purpose statement: be more than you ever imagined.

International students have enjoyed another successful year at Diocesan, with recent graduates gaining entry to universities in New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Korea, Japan, UK and USA.

international student testimonials diane wang
international student testimonials diane wang
Diane Wang top IB Diploma Learner

IB Diploma Learner Profile Award in 2020 went to International Student Diane Wang. This award is given to a student in Year 13 who, throughout the two years of the Diploma, has consistently exhibited the attributes of the IB Learner Profile. This profile can be considered as a map of a lifelong journey in pursuit of international-mindedness. It aims to develop active, compassionate and lifelong learners, and to prepare students to make exceptional contributions both at school and beyond. The IB mission is to encourage students to be inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective, thus educating the whole person for a life of active, responsible citizenship.

international student testimonials sienna zhang
international student testimonials sienna zhang
EY rewards Sienna's art

International Student Sienna Zhang won the recent EY Excellence and Innovation in the Visual Arts awards. Ernst and Young have a strong relationship with Diocesan and recognise artistic excellence through this prize. Aptly titled ‘Seeker’, the style of Sienna’s painting, including its emphasis on tones of blue and expressive use of brushstrokes, is reminiscent of Picasso’s famous Blue Period paintings. Sienna’s artwork speaks of an ‘issue’ – in this case ‘histrionic or attention-seeking personality disorder’. Her focus on the ‘clown’, with its mask-like face, is a clever device to represent a character who illustrates the strategies of this disorder and finds themselves like actors in their everyday lives. The strength of this submission is the confluence between Sienna’s artwork and the personal and artistic story she is telling. Sienna also received the English Language Award for Learners of English as another language.

international student testimonials helen kim
international student testimonials helen kim
Flautist Helen Kim, a rising star

International Student, Helen Kim recently won 1st Place in the Woodwind & Brass section of the American Protégé International Competition, and as a result has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York in June 2021.

Helen’s achievement continues the Dio success in this competition with 4 students having placed within the last 3 years, including cellist, Emily Ai (below) who also won 1st place in this competition back in 2017.

Helen represents New Zealand in both NZSSSO and NZYSW as Co-principal flute, she was also the only flautist through to National finals of the NZCT Chamber Music competition this year in Wellington. Congratulations Helen on your remarkable achievement.

international student testimonials shellie hu
international student testimonials shellie hu
Shellie goes on to Wellesley

International Student Shellie Hu, currently studying art, media design and computer science at Wellesley College.

Recent Dio graduate Shellie Hu applied to 20 universities in total, of which 16 were American universities. She had offers from her dream schools, and received generous scholarships from many others.

“I chose Wellesley College, because besides its value in promoting female education and leadership. Wellesley encourages students to learn as much knowledge as possible. After studying the IB Diploma at Dio, I fell in love with exploring many more subjects. This is why I intend to study an interdepartmental major that provides a well-rounded understanding in art, media design and computer science.”

international student testimonials nokyoong treewattanasuwan
international student testimonials nokyoong treewattanasuwan
International Engineering Graduate

NokYoong Treewattanasuwan, recent Engineering graduate

NokYoong started school at Dio in 2012 as a Year 10 International Student. She studied NCEA Accounting, Calculus, Design and Visual Communication, Economics and Physics and finished school at Dio in 2015.

She continued her international education by gaining entry to University College London and has recently graduated with a Civil Environmental & Geomatic Engineering Degree.

student testimonials scarlett yi
student testimonials scarlett yi
Top award at senior prize giving

Scarlett Li, International Student and Proxime Accessit to the Dux

Scarlett was at Diocesan for just two years, but in that time she made a huge impression academically. She came to Diocesan for the Diploma programme and has achieved outstandingly. Her results are near perfect. Scarlett was top in subject for Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry, and was awarded Proxime Accessit to the Dux.

Scarlett is now studying at Otago University.

student testimonials emily ai
student testimonials emily ai
Julliard beckons for Emily

Emily Ai, International Student and top Cellist.

One of the world’s top music schools, Julliard, came calling for then 12-year old Emily Ai. She became one of the youngest cellists at the famous New York school when she started in September 2018. With a choice of offers from scholarships to three of top music schools in America, Emily says the reputation of Julliard’s world-renowned String Quartet helped make her decision.

During her time at Dio she won first prize in the International Salzburg Music Competition in Austria and was also second in the chamber music section. As a result, she was selected to perform at the Wiener Saal, Mozarteum in Salzburg.

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