• Photo by Sierra McCoy

OKEMOS - For the past 30 years, the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) has awarded student-athletes with $1,000 college scholarships. To qualify for the scholarship, applicants must participate in at least one sport with a postseason tournament sponsored by the MHSAA.

An Okemos High School student-athlete is among the 13 students from Class A schools selected to receive a scholarship.

Alma Cooper has played for Okemos High School's varsity basketball and volleyball team for the past three years. This spring, she will run track and field in her fourth season. Cooper has helped her basketball and volleyball team win district titles as well as a league championship for track and field. She was the captain of the volleyball team her senior year and she's received all-league recognition for volleyball, all-conference honors in track and field and all-conference all-academic honors in basketball, volleyball and track and field.

Along with her responsibilities as a student-athlete, Cooper is very involved in the community.

She represents the student body at school board meetings, she is a member of the National Honor Society and the United in Social Progress club, she was the 2017 Miss Michigan Teen USA runner-up, she was a finalist for the "Pass it Forward" award and she works for a non-profit that supports victims of human trafficking.

In her essay, Cooper said participating in sports shaped her into the person she is today.

"Sportsmanship in educational athletics teaches young men and women how to celebrate others’ successes and learn from the lessons brought through losses," Cooper said. “High school volleyball has allowed me to grow not only as a player but as an individual, respecting others in times of defeat and looking past unimaginable past conflicts to uphold my poise and grace.”

As she finishes out her final season of basketball and prepares for her last few runs in track and field, Cooper has a lot to look forward to. She will study life science at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.