Molly Cooper, a sixth grader at Barrett Elementary School in Morgan Hill, has won the grand prize of a Bay Area-wide anti-gang essay contest.
Cooper had the best essay out of 1,500 sixth graders from all over the Bay area who participated in the contest, including schools in Redwood City, Foster City, Newark, Oakland, Richmond, Sacramento and San Francisco.
The contest aimed to help kids learn that there are positive alternatives to gang activity. The kids wrote short essays on subjects such as “Making My Community and G.R.E.A.T. Place” and “Why Violence and or Gangs are not a Good Life Choice.”
Cooper will be honored by the San Francisco Giants at home plate during a pre-game ceremony at their May 15 game, along with 11 other winners out of Morgan Hill.
Sponsored by the San Francisco Giants and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the contest was imitated by the Morgan Hill Police Department’s Gang Resistance Education and Training program.
Over 200 sixth graders from the Morgan Hill Unified School District submitted essays to the contest.
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- on 05/15/2011
hi its me Molly Cooper the Essay Contest winner if you want i can send you a picture of myself so you can post it on the site just send me your email
- on 05/09/2009
Full text of Molly's essay:
Gang Violence By: Molly Cooper
It’s the middle of the night. Everyone’s asleep. Sirens break the silence. I’m scared. What’s happening? Am I safe? I feel alone. Everyday kids live in a world that is filled with violence. Why? This is one of many questions I’d like to ask.
Some other questions that race through my mind are; what is it about gang life that looks so great to some kids? Why do kids choose violence over friendship? Why do kids choose hate over love? Is it peer pressure from friends and family? Is it that they feel like they don’t have any way out or any other choice? Are they just as scared as I am?
Everyday kids have choices to make and their decisions are sometimes really tough. Things can change so fast. Some people like you some people don’t all because of the colors that you wear. Red, blue, green? Why do we separate ourselves from one another by color or by race? We’re all the same…we’re all just kids.
So why not make a difference? Why don’t we try to change? Why not teach the kids around you to take the same time to build instead of tear down? Why not help each other instead of make each other feel so small, weak, and intimidated? What if we lived in a world where people could get along and respect one another? I think we can. I think we have to!
We can start today! We can start by giving back to our community. We can start by coming up with a plan to support group activities and not gangs. We can participate in organizations that teach us the difference between right and wrong. We can be nice to our neighbors. We can start to care for each other. If someone is in trouble we should help them. If someone is struggling we should lend them a hand. If someone is hurt we should give them our ears. If someone is desperate you should teach them to dream!
In the end it is up to us to stop gangs and violence. It is up to us to stand up and say enough! We can live in a world that’s safe, where we can feel safe and sound in our beds where we sleep. We can live in a world where people care for one another. We can live in a world where we’re not alone. We can! We can! We can!
