The Doulos Sancocho

(A Delicious 3-Minute Read)

Rice, beans, and chicken (La Bandera - The Flag) is by far the most well-known Dominican dish. It’s like the extroverted oldest sibling of the DR's food family. But, a little further down the family tree is a subtle yet incredible, more understated dish called Sancocho. It’s a stew that can be made of just about any mix of ingredients; beef, pork, chicken, seafood, corn, yuca, dumplings, green bananas… you name it. A good Sancocho is a life-altering experience. That might sound a little extreme, but for those of you who’ve had it, tu sabes, verdad? Everyone does it a little differently; some might add extra yuca but no corn, or beef and pork but no chicken. The key to a life-changing Sancocho is the mix of ingredients.

Like Sancocho, there are many recipes for quality Christian education. What makes Doulos such a unique place isn’t the individual ingredients we use, but it’s the rare combination of our five key ingredients that makes us so effective at raising up Christian servant leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Below is the Doulos Recipe or our Not-So-Secret-Sauce. If you leave ANY one of them out, it wouldn’t be Doulos.

Christian Discipleship - Every Sancocho needs a solid base, and Christian Discipleship is the foundation of everything we do. If all we did was provide a high-quality education for people from a variety of backgrounds, we would consider that a tragedy. We want to work with the Holy Spirit to anchor our students in Christ so that they will be part of his restorative revolution here on earth.
Expeditionary Learning Model - The DR faces a wide variety of extremely complex problems. This inquiry-based model shapes students to be curious, gritty, problem solvers ready to challenge the status quo and take on complex problems.
Mixed Socio-Economics - We believe that God’s leaders come from all socioeconomic backgrounds. So we hold 50% of the spaces at Doulos for students who would not otherwise be able to attend a private Christian school.
College/Calling Preparatory - There is the ability and expectation of everyone to grow their capacity for impact by pursuing higher education so that they are equipped to serve big and lead well.
Dominican - We are not an international school. We are a Dominican School. Through active service in the community, celebration, and critical reflection of Dominican culture we develop ownership, pride, and a sense of calling to shape the future of this country.

Bringing these five ingredients together takes an incredible amount of work. But this is the recipe God gave Doulos and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

A little experiment you can try right now is randomly choosing one from the list up above. Then imagine what Doulos would look like without that key ingredient. What if we took out the Discipleship, or the Mixed Socio-Economics, or even the Expeditionary Learning Model? We MUST have all five, or it’s just not God’s recipe for Doulos.

We’re so grateful to God and everyone (the staff, sponsors, Doulos families, teams, volunteers, and donors) who have invested and put in the very hard work of bringing this recipe to life. Doulos is a place like no other (Gloria a Dios), and we are so grateful to be cooking it up together.

#DoulosAlums

Hello my name is Darwing Espinal and I am an Aeronautical Engineer in the airline industry and I am proud to be a part of the “Doulos Familia”. Doulos helped me grow in a way that no other school was able to. At Doulos, I developed a deep hunger to help the people around me. This lead me to become the president of an organization that helps students realize their fullest potential by developing a network inside and outside of school; not only in their careers but in everything they hope to do.

Doulos was integral in this because they helped me build my relationship with Christ. They also helped me grow the confidence, hunger, and fire that I needed to take on and accomplish these goals.

My favorite memory of Doulos is one where we’d been climbing Pico Duarte, in 8th grade. I remember going up the mountain, we found a rubber duck along the way and made the last person to reach the camp wear the duck and give everyone else a massage. While at the time I was not so fond of the idea, looking back at this memory reminds me to accept myself for who I am, and to use whatever the circumstances to bless others… even if that meant providing a little massage for encouragement!

- Darwing

Calling All Doulos Alums

(Staff and Students)

We'd love to hear where you are and what you're doing. Please drop us a quick note today.

January's Highlights

First Teams On The New Property!

Short-term “Service Learning Teams” have started to come down and work on the new property. They are laying the infrastructure for many more groups to come and serve.
Click Here to learn more about bringing a team.

Revolution

Our “Party with a Purpose,” that helps us celebrate and instill our Codes of Character. Last month we celebrated Perseverance.

Hands-On Coffee Experience

11th grade is exploring the history and social/economic impact of coffee. To deepen their understanding they did a three days hands-on learning experience at Spirit Mountian Coffee.

Being Back Together After The Break

The Christmas break was lovely, but it was also really great to be back together again. Our students and staff have such a heart for each other that it's always nice to just be together.

Please join us in praying for...

Land Master Planning Process - Over the next couple of months a team will be meeting to develop the exact project and fundraising plans to transition us to our permanent home. Please pray for the Lord to guide them in wisdom and faith.

League Sports - This month starts League Sports. This is a wonderful opportunity for our athletes to shine Christ's countercultural light as they compete against other teams.

Afterschool Program - Our Afterschool Program is a powerful discipleship tool as our students interact with older students and staff through fun hobbies and sports.

Recruitment and Staffing - As always we are praying for the Lord to clearly call the administrators, teachers, and staff that He'd like to serve at Doulos next school year. If you’d like to pray over each open position, here’s a list.

Admissions Process - We are beginning the admissions process for the next school year. Spots are VERY limited so please pray for God's wisdom and guidance for the additions team.

January 2023