St Rose Girl Scout Earns The Madonna Award

By Eliza Hallabeck

The yearlong process of interviewing people, compiling information, and visiting churches was topped by earning recognition in the form of the Girl Scout Madonna Award for St Rose of Lima Girl Scout Courtney DeMeglio.

“None of my friends knew about it,” said Courtney, “and my mom told me about it, so I thought it would be an interesting scout project to do.”

Courtney’s mother, Missy, said they were told Courtney is the first Girl Scout in Fairfield County to complete the Madonna Award.

St Rose of Lima fifth grade teacher Jennifer Riley was Courtney’s advisor on the project, and Michelle DePinto also helped her on the project, according to the 12-year-old St Rose of Lima student.

For the project, “We went to different churches, I baked bread for a nursing home, and I had to research the works of Mary.”

Courtney earned the award on June 1 during an awards ceremony, and on Thursday, July 29, she visited The Bee to look back on the year she spent working on her project.

She worked on the project mostly on weekends, because school work, she said, demanded her attention during the week. All of her work, including prayers she had to memorize, photos of churches she visited, and more, has been compiled into a book and organized into different chapters.

“She had to visit several different churches to see how other people observe religious services,” said Ms DeMeglio.

Courtney also interviewed people at the churches she visited.

To satisfy the requirement that she complete a community service project, Courtney made bread for her great-grandmother’s retirement home. Her great-grandmother Ethyl Burkle, who Courtney calls Nana, has passed away since her time Glen Hill Nursing Home in Danbury, but Courtney has many fond memories with her, she said.

Another part of the project required Courtney to create a sanctuary, a picture of the Virgin Mary in a frame with a rosary given to her by her Nana. Since the completion of the project, Courtney has moved the sanctuary to her room.

To start the project Courtney said she spoke to many people, including Monsignor Robert Weiss at St Rose of Lima. She then told her mother she was starting work on the research for the project.

“It was definitely a lot of hard work,” said Courtney, “but it definitely paid off. I was the first one in the diocese [to complete it], and I can teach any Girl Scout who wants to do it.”

Since completing the award requirements, the rising seventh grade student said multiple of her friends are interested in completed their own Madonna Award project.

“I’m very proud that I did it first,” said Courtney. She also said she is looking forward to other scouts completing the Madonna Award, because it would be a lot of fun for anyone to complete.