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For her Girl Scout Gold Award, Palmer Trinity School senior Megan Maguire wrote and illustrated Lila Makes a Difference, a children’s book that focused on empathy and acceptance toward immigrant children.
“I made it animal based so it wasn’t particular to one race or nationality but universal to all the kids,” she says.
She also developed a curriculum and activities based on the book for teachers to use in the classroom.
Maguire distributed the book to ten local elementary school teachers and counselors.
“They were at all different schools in the area,” she says.
She chose to write about immigration because it’s a subject she’s passionate about. That passion was sparked by a seminar she attended in eighth grade.
“My mom is an immigrant,” she says. “My mom immigrated from Poland. She came for graduate school.”
Her grandmother immigrated from Ireland in the early 1900’s.
Her mother’s family remains in Poland but the majority of her dad’s family moved to the U.S.
Maguire decided on writing a book because she loves to write. She also enjoys working with children so she thought it would be great to combine the two.
From start to finish, with a delay because of COVID-19, the project took about two years.
And COVID required changes in the plans – she had planned to go into the classroom to present the book to students but had to scrap those plans. She was happy to receive pictures from the teachers and counselors that showed the children enjoying the presentation of the book.
The teachers indicated they plan to continue to use the book in their classrooms.
“I might try to keep publishing more and reach out to more elementary schools in the area,” she says.
Her interest in immigration is so strong that this past summer she volunteered at a pro bono law firm that focuses on immigration.
“I interviewed undocumented children to help them get their visas,” she says. “The visas were for children who were abused, abandoned or neglected.”
The experience was transformative. Now she hopes to go into political science or pre-law in college and then go to law school.
“I didn’t think I was interested in law and that changed my perspective on that,” she says.
At Palmer, Maguire is on the executive leadership board of Model United Nations.
“Being able to be on the leadership team is very cool,” she says.
The leadership team is planning the conference that Palmer hosts once a year and they are working on which conferences they can go to in person and which to go to virtually. She hopes they’ll be able to travel for conferences – in previous years she attended one at Stanford University.
She’s Co-president of the French Honor Society.
“Right now, we’re trying to coordinate our monthly croissant sales. The proceeds go to charities that are related to something French,” she says.
French Honor Society members offer tutoring to the younger French students.
She’s also a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society.
Maguire has been in Thespians since sixth grade. She won’t be able to be in a play this year but she plans to participate in the Thespian District Competition in December.
“I think I’m doing a small group musical this year with a few of my friends,” she says.
For fun, Maguire plays piano. She’s a student the University of Miami’s Frost Preparatory Program.
“Before COVID I was in a band at UM (as a singer) that performed, but that’s been put on hold,” she says. “It was like pop/jazz band.”
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
