The Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy (OMI) develops leaders of character by providing a rigorous seven-year college preparatory program to promote excellence in the four pillars of academics, leadership, citizenship, and athletics. OMI’s four pillars are ACADEMICS, LEADERSHIP, CITIZENSHIP, and ATHLETICS. Using a military framework, the goal of OMI is to graduate cadets who are capable of meeting the admissions requirements for any college in the nation and who are prepared for their roles as future leaders of character. OMI was founded in 2001 after a hard-fought two-year campaign led by then Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. Governor Gray Davis helped secure the charter after local school boards rejected it. It was the first charter ever sponsored by the state, the first public military school, and the first school sponsored by the National Guard. The first class of 167 seventh-graders enrolled that August under the direction of the Commandant, Colonel Bradford M. Jones, then Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Command Sergeant Major Alex Cabassa and then Academic Director, Rick Moniz. On May 18, 2007, OMI moved from the Oakland Army Base to current location on Lusk Street.
