Life as Litchfield County Teen!

My life for the past few weeks as Litchfield County Teen has been a BLAST! I have been to many fun appearances such as the sweeper pageant, The group appearance at the Enfield mall, Mr. Watertown, the Saint Patrick's Day parade, and the visit to the Hartford Children's Hospital. On top of the many events I have participated in with my title, I have been very busy at school with CAPT testing, projects, and songs/monologues to remember!

This past Saturday, all the teens had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Hartford Children's Hospital to speak with Scott Organic about the relationship between MAO and CMN. One of the many things I learned throughout the day was that every penny, nickel, or dime really counts if your willing to give. It is SO important to give back to an organization that does so much for children in the community. When I got a tour of the hospital, it really made me think how blessed I am to have my health and that the experience really inspired me to do all I can to give back to the Children's Miracle Network!!!!!

So far, it has been a great weak and I have a lot of things to look forward to! Wednesday, I have a performance at my school for the musical theater department. I'm in a group number singing and dancing to "I've Got Rhythm", my solo is called "Where or When", and I'm performing a monologue from the play "The Glass Menagerie". One thing I have been looking forward to FOR EVER is the release of the movie "The Last Song''. After begging and begging, my mom is taking me and my best friend Dana to see the movie after my performance!!!!!! I just finished reading the book so I'm super excited to see the movie!

School has been fantastic lately, and I'm really proud of myself for how hard I have been working on my grades. The third quarter is ending this week and I have an A average for all my honors classes!!! The best advice I could give is to focus on education because it is the basis of how you will succeed in this lifetime. It is a great thing that I wake up everyday motivated to enhance my intelligence and learn.


I hope everyone is doing well and will have a joyous Easter and spends time outside this week! ( I heard it may be between 70-80 degrees )

xoxoxoxoxoxo- Mary

Bake, Bake, Bake!

Hello All!

This past weekend was so much fun! Last Saturday night, the Litchfield County and Naugatuck Valley team got together at Phyllis's to bake brownies, cupcakes, "birds nests", and much more. I was so excited for this party because I don't have a lot of experience baking (or even cooking all), so I was hoping I might find a hidden talent. For starters, I learned that I'm not a natural cook and the yummy goodies definitely were NOT any thanks to me!!!! (I think I should just stick to putting sprinkles on the cupcakes). We all came together to bake for fundraisers that were held at two college campus's throughout the week. CC, who was the leader of the event, ran the bake sales to collect donations for the Huskython to benefit the Children's Miracle Network.


Sunday, I gave up my previous title Miss Fairfield County Outstanding Teen 2009 at Educational Center of the Arts in New Haven. It was such a fun filled day and a great celebration because this was Tracy and Pam, the business managers, 10 year anniversary running the pageant. The winners of the pageant were Ashley Membrino: Miss Collegiate, Gabrielle Karol: Miss Fairfield County, Cassandra Cogan: Miss New Haven County, Alyssa Anderson: Miss New Haven County's Outstanding Teen, and Jaine Coann Lefebve: Miss Fairfield County's Outstanding Teen. I'm so happy to have spent the day with these four wonderful girls and I know they are great role models and representatives of the Miss Connecticut Organization. Also, I am so thankful that my Litchfield County and Naugatuck Valley sister queens came to support me!

The next day turned right into Litchfield County mode, because it was the first day of our bake sale and my first LC appearance. By the third hour of selling our delicious treats, we already made over 100 dollars!!!! It really warms my heart to see how many people are glad to support the Children's Miracle Network even when they only have one dollar to offer. After a great day and only a small amount of cupcakes left, we made almost $300 bringing CC's Huskython team up to $850.00! It was a such wonderful experience and I can't wait to continue supporting my sister queens!

Welcome to my blog!!!!! :)

Hello everyone! I'm Mary Ragaglia, Miss Litchfield County Outstanding Teen 2010. I am so excited to have the opportunity to represent Litchfield County for the next year!

I was crowned on January 23 at the BEAUTIFUL Thomaston Opera House. It was an incredible experience and honor to be crowned in front of all the people I care about!

Just a little back round information about myself..... I am 14 years old and a freshmen at the Greater Hartford Academy of Performing Arts. If you didn't know, it's a magnet school that provides a focus on the arts to better prepare students for a career in this field. My major is musical theater, which I have been extremely passionate about my whole life! I also am very involved in my school through student council ( representing my department), and in various committees: community service, student needs, council funding. In my free time I take voice and piano lessons, I audition for musicals, spend time with my family, and go on appearances for my title.

This year I am not only privileged to be sister queens with the Litchfield County girls, but also the Naugatuck Valley girls! So far we had a Miss America party at Phyllis's house, and we attended the Greater Waterbury/ Brass City Pageant. The Miss America Party was the first time everyone got together as a family. Everyone had a fabulous night as we watched Miss Virginia, Caressa Cameron become Miss America 2010. Also, the girls (and Brendan) went in the hot tub even though it was freezing outside!

On February 6th we watched Alex Puglisi become Miss Greater Waterbury and Marisa Barnard become Miss Brass City. Two teens were also crowned: Alexa Farrell ( Greater Waterbury) and Nicole Nemense( Brass City). I'm so excited that these four fantastic girls are apart of the class of 2010!!!!!

There were a lot of great contestants and I can't wait to see them compete again. This pageant was also special because it was the return of our FABULOUS Miss Connecticut Sharalynn Kuziak from Miss America. She looked stunning as always and we were all so proud of her acomplishments while competing to be Miss America.

Phyllis has so many wonderful and exciting appearances planned and I can't wait to keep everyone updated! I know I will make everyone proud <3