Each year, the Orange Empire Conference names one male and female student athlete from each member college to the Character Champion Team while naming overall winners of the Character Champion Award. The award is given to the student athlete who displays the following values; sportsmanship, respect, caring, fairness, civility, honesty, integrity and responsibility shown through a specific action, ideally directed toward an opponent during competition. The criteria also includes the action of putting the team and teammates before oneself while acting as a positive role model. The inaugural award was given out following the 2009-10 academic year. Since its inception, the OEC Character Champion Award has been sponsored by Fair-Play Scoreboards. 

For the 2014-15 season, Kobi Pekich of Irvine Valley College was named the Female Character Champion and Javier Venegas of Golden West College was named the Male Character Champion. The complete 2014-15 Character Champion Team can be viewed below.

Female Character Champion – Kobi Pekich, Irvine Valley College 

Pekich was selected as the Female Character Champion as she has balanced a successful volleyball career with outstanding performance in the classroom while also giving back to the community. As a student, Pekich has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA, and due to Advanced Placement units and full college workloads had already earned an AA even before her sophomore season has ended.  She is a two-time IVC Scholar-Athlete and four-time member of the IVC Dean’s List.

She continues to work with agencies she met as a high school student, including cleaning and painting the houses of people experiencing various hardships, cleaning local parks, and a recent trip to Costa Rica to serve the churches and public schools, and to work with day care organizations in the slums of the nation’s capital (San Jose).

Male Character Champion – Javier Venegas, Golden West

Venegas was selected as the Male Character Champion for the numerous ways in which he gives back to his community and his campus. A member of the Golden West College cross country team and track & field team, Venegas also serves as Inter-Club Council Vice Chair for the Golden West College Student Government. He is also a student member of the Campus Emergency Response Team, the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society, the Alliance of Cultural Advancement Club and the Student Athlete Advisory Council.

Off campus, Venegas is an Eagle Scout and a member of the Vigil Honor Member of the Order of the Arrow, the National Honor Society for the Boy Scouts. With the Boy Scouts Venegas received the Popepius XII medal, the highest religious medal a Catholic Scout can receive, as well as the Venturing Leadership Award, again the highest honor, this time for venturing in the Boy Scouts.

Venegas credits the skills he learned in the Boy Scouts for his quick action during a high school cross country meet when a teammate was trampled by over 100 runners. Venegas was the first person to his injured teammate and quickly used his own sweatshirt and jersey to help stop bleeding from a head wound his teammate sustained. Venegas stayed with his teammate for over 30 minutes as they awaited medical personnel.

Finally, Venegas also volunteers with Isiah’s House, a homeless shelter in Santa Ana, while also working with Barks of Love, a pet expo to help find homes for abused animals. Venegas regularly participates in beach cleanups and works as a confirmation teacher at his church.

2014-15 Orange Empire Conference Character Champion Award
Presented by Fair-Play Scoreboards