Muskogee High School deserves a gold star for becoming the first school in Oklahoma to receive the National School of Character Award from the Character Education Partnership.

CEP is a Washington, D.C.-based organization that backs effective character education in our nation's schools. Five years ago, Muskogee High had several problems related to overall student behavior, and the 2011 award celebrates the school's significant turnaround and great strides made.

CEP officials say faculty and students at Muskogee High now score high in character traits such as respect, leadership and determination in their studies, and are positively impacting the community. Also cited by CEP were the students' higher exam scores, good attendance and grade point averages that have significantly risen.

“We see that when schools embrace the critical role they have in shaping the character of young people, achievement and morale go up and bullying and discipline problems go down,” says Joe Mazzola, CEP president and CEO.

11 Principles

CEP named 37 other public schools, three charter schools, two private schools and one school district as 2011 National Schools of Character, and all schools had to meet criteria outlined in the CEP's 11 Principles of Effective Character Education. Those principles include that the school must create a caring community, foster students' self-motivation, and engage families and community members as partners in the character-building effort.

“Muskogee High School made the shift in culture by first building positive connections between kids and adults through a student advocacy program, where students are grouped in 'families' and meet with their advisor weekly,” says Melony Carey, Muskogee Public Schools director of communications. “Advocacy groups also take outside field trips – such as to ball games, movies, bowling – to cement that relationship outside of school as well.”

ROAD Scholars

Carey says Muskogee High School also adopted the acronym ROAD, which stands for Respect, Opportunity, Achievement, Determination.

“As a sign of congratulations, businesspeople came together to order National School of Character commemorative coins that were distributed to students in an assembly of the entire school,” she says. “Also, four other schools in our district received 2011 Promising Practices awards, which is the precursor for being a state School of Character. Our Promising Practices schools are Pershing Elementary, Rougher Alternative Academy, Sadler Arts Academy and the MHS Advocacy Program.”

Oh, By the Way

Besides Muskogee Public Schools, Muskogee is also home to Hilldale Public Schools, Oklahoma School for the Blind and some fine colleges. They include the private four-year Bacone College, the public two-year Connors State College, the public Indian Capital Technology Center and the public four-year Northeastern State University. In addition, Virgil’s Beauty College is a nationally accredited cosmetology school that has been training future beauticians for more than 40 years.