Team Mildenhall youth honored

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kelsey Waters
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  April is Month of the Military Child. In honor of this, meet one of our own RAF Mildenhall children who, at age 11, is already making a difference.

Meaghan Croteau, daughter of Chief Master Sgt. Arthur Croteau, 488th Intelligence Squadron chief enlisted manager, recently received recognition as one of the top 10 percent of children from all five branches of the military while competing for the Operation Homefront's Military Child of the Year award.

"When Art first suggested that we put her up for Military Child of the Year, I was kind of surprised," said Karen, Croteau's wife. "I knew she was an active child but I didn't realize how active she was until we started tallying up the hours."

According to the program's website, the award recognizes military children who demonstrate resiliency, leadership and achievement.

Meaghan participates in an array of activities and fundraisers.

"I do the safety patrol at school, Girl Scouts and I'm fundraising for the spoon billed sandpiper," said Meaghan.

The youth learned about the endangerment of the spoon billed sandpiper, a type of bird, from a wildlife center. Knowing that her Girl Scout troop was selecting a volunteer project, Meaghan came up with the Save the Spoonies program and proposed it to her troop.

"I found out there are less than 200 pairs in the wild and I thought 'I need to help them,'" said Meaghan.

Although the troop ended up doing a different project, Meaghan went ahead with Save the Spoonies program because it was important to her.

"We sold chocolate and sugar-coated spoons and raised more than $400," Meaghan said. The money raised went to assisting the wildlife center, buying shipping crates for the birds.

At the age of 10, Meaghan had more than 80 volunteer hours, but being Military Child of the Year is about much more. It's also about showing resiliency.

For Meaghan this meant overcoming bullying for her slight speech impediment, somewhat eccentric interests and abilities.

"I mostly tried to ignore it," Meaghan said. "But when it didn't stop, I told my mom."

Karen had taught her daughter to just ignore bullies and to not let them bother her but when it continued she went to Meaghan's principal.

"I'm proud of the way Meaghan handled the situation; it showed a lot of maturity," said Karen.

Although Meaghan didn't make the final cut for the award, the nomination alone is an accomplishment for someone who was transitioning from fourth to fifth grade.

"Meaghan was the only child from the U.K. selected, and the second youngest child to be picked from overseas," her father said.

Meaghan said it was nice and humbling being put in the competition, and enjoys helping.

"It's just nice to see that her volunteering was validated and she knows it's important," Croteau said.