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.”

Morgan Hill cares about high school athletics. Friday nights find hundreds of people out on the football field at Live Oak or in the gym at Sobrato. As in a lot of communities all across America, student athletes and their families help provide the glue that binds Morgan Hill as a community.

Beginning next week, the Morgan Hill Observer will provide weekly coverage of local sports.