Morrison Academy Kaohsiung

Coordinates: 24°11′12.21″N 120°40′48.33″E / 24.1867250°N 120.6800917°E / 24.1867250; 120.6800917

Morrison Academy Kaohsiung (MAK) is a K-12 Christian International school in Dashe District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is the southern arm of the Morrison Academy school system. MAK is expanding to include a full high school. In the year 2014-2015, an 11th grade is being added. In the year 2015-2016, a 12th grade is being added. A new wing is being built onto the school and the campus is expanding to accommodate the growth.

Morrison Academy Kaohsiung (MAK)

The school is jointly accredited by the agencies WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges)^[1] and ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International).^[2]

The front of MAK's main building

MAK's mascot: The Sharks

MAK's library

MAK sends many teams to international tournaments for sports competitions

Main office

MAK - an International School in southern Taiwan

Campus

Following its establishment, the campus moved twice. The current MAK campus is located in Dashe District, a suburban district of Kaohsiung City, about a 20-minute drive from downtown Kaohsiung. The campus was built in 2000 on land leased from the Taiwan Sugar Corporation. MAK facilities include:

• 20 classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards, LCD Projectors, and First-Generation Apple TV's
• a music room ready for band and choir
• a library with a full complement of English books
• a computer lab and multi-media lab
• two science labs
• an air-conditioned, indoor gymnasium
• an outdoor basketball/tennis court
• two soccer fields
• a 300-meter rubber-surfaced track
• a weight/fitness room
• an outdoor covered play area

Student Body

The K-12 enrollment at MAK is about 250 (as of 2016). The faculty to student ratio is about 1:7.

Extracurricular Activities

History

Morrison Christian Academy started over 50 years ago in Taichung in a bamboo hut with six children. Soon after its inception missionary groups quickly got organized and expanded this school to a whopping thirty-five students, and named their creation after Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to Mainland China.

In Kaohsiung, many missionary kids went to the U.S. Department of Defense School, but when it closed in 1974, they were without a school. Morrison Academy stepped in to fill that need and opened a K-8 school (called Morrison Academy Kaohsiung) near Cheng Ching Lake. In two years, it grew from three teachers and thirty-three students to four teachers and forty-five students. Missionary kids kept coming, and they built a six-classroom school at Kao Tan to hold them all. Even this school, however, could not hold the growing enrollment, so they moved again in 1996, back to Cheng Ching Lake and shared a campus with the Da Hua Elementary School in Fong Shan. In 2000, they opened the current MAK campus.

Robert Morrison

Robert Morrison (1782-1834)^[3] was the first Protestant missionary to bring Christianity to the Chinese.

As a child, Morrison was a dedicated student. An entry in his diary reads: "I have adopted a number of studies - botany, and some other things. I do not know but it would be better to study the Bible."

He traveled by ship from his home in Newcastle, England, to London, where he went to college and was ordained a minister. After an interview with the London Missionary Society, it was decided he would go to China, not Africa. After studying theology, missions, and Chinese, 1807 he left for what is now Canton. He had to travel thousands of extra miles through the United States because the shipping company would not transport missionaries.

Morrison's first years in China were very difficult. The imperial edicts against foreigners and their religions required him to spend much of his time hiding, rarely leaving his house. His health suffered from lack of fresh air and exercise. When he did go out, Chinese people followed him and called him names. To keep from being noticed Morrison dressed, ate, and acted like a Chinese person. Morrison was comforted by his wife Mary, but when their children were only seven and nine years old, Mary died of cholera. In spite of all these hardships, Morrison was able to study the language and translate the entire Bible into Chinese, while at the same time compiling a six-volume Chinese dictionary. He also spread appreciation of the Chinese culture and civilization in the West. Robert Morrison is buried in Macao, where a chapel has been built in his memory.

In 1953 the name Morrison Academy was adopted in honor of Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary in China. His example of faith, discipline, and scholarship has been the school's ideal.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Morrison Academy Kaohsiung.

• Education in Taiwan

References