"Down through history, in countries all over the world,
education has had two great goals: to help young people
become smart and to help them become good."
- Dr. Thomas Lickona

Character Education at Oxford Academy began in (1999), thanks to Dr. Jan Billings (then Superintendent, now retired), with the AUHSD's (Anaheim Union High School District) membership in the Josephson Institute's Character Counts! Coalition and the training that Site Coordinators throughout the entire district received in the Six Pillars of Character. At Oxford, those pillars were transformed into The MAGC! (the Monthly Attributes of Good Character): traits consistently established district-wide to coincide with the national holidays of the calendar year (for example, Thanksgiving = November = Attitude & Gratitude), and with the pacing of the traditional school year.

The OA CEOs (Character Education Officers) have served as student leaders in school-wide Character Education since 2001 and have continued to grow steadily each year in number and in experience, though students have changed from year to year. Students are nominated annually by teachers to become CEOs based on their excellent character, and if they accept the challenge they are expected to model and advocate positive character traits on a regular basis. They attend monthly meetings to continue to strengthen their own character, exercise leadership and interpersonal skills, plan character-related school-wide events like the Annual De-Stress Days, and maintain on-going campus activities such as the CIA (Caught in the Act) Program. Our CEO Board Members are elected annually by the group to lead meetings, assess program outcomes, present adult Patriot of Character Awards to Faculty/Staff/Parents, and attend OACM meetings (such as PTSA, Site Council, Foundation, and Booster Clubs) to incorporate the community voice into our own meetings and events.

In 2002, the program expanded to include the participation of many of OA's English Language Arts teachers in the federally-funded ICE (Institute for Character Education) through the OCDE (Orange County Department of Education). As Fellows of ICE, they developed lesson plans that integrated character into the ELA Curriculum [specifically for in-coming 7th graders, freshmen in grade 9, and 12th grade seniors; more information on English Lang. Arts Standards, and other subject areas' Standards, is available at the CDE (California Department of Education website)]. This year we have added new Fellows to the group and will continue to attend training sessions and meetings to collaborate at the county level with other schools and districts involved in Character Education, as well as disseminating the training and information received from ICE to the CEOs at Oxford and to the AUHSD Site Coordinators.