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Team members chose Saguaro National Park in Arizona, home to tree-like cacti.

“We thought we could do something with it,” she said.

So the team set out to create a Road Runner desert scene made of cacti and cookie boxes.

The box arrived flat, Scoutmaster Billy Anderson said.

However, the girls had to come up with a design for the park.

“We did our part,” said scout Ryan Macchia, 13, seventh grade at Paris Junior High School. “I made a little cactus.

Anderson’s main contribution to the project was Road Runner sprinting around the cactus.

“I was inspired by the Roadrunner cartoon,” said Mylee.

Starting in November, the Girl Scouts met weekly at the home of project mentor Jackson Little to plan, design, and build the desert scene.

“We’ve built it before and assembled it at the Galleria in Dallas,” Macchia said.

This wasn’t Mylee’s first time competing in the annual competition.

“Curly[Patterson]and I have competed before,” she said. “The theme was pioneer women and we chose Selena.”

Another competition she entered was for women authors, and her team created scenes that recalled the Beatrice Potter books “Peter Rabbit” and “The Story of Squirrel Nutkins.”

“This was my first year,” Macchia said.

Both girls said they got a lot out of scouting

Mylee has been a Scout for 12 years and Macchia for 8 years.

“I feel really prepared for the future and I can make a lot of friends,” Miley said.

Macchia said she likes the receptive nature of the Scout program.

“It gives me confidence,” she said.

Noting that Little provided a lot of encouragement and direction, Billy said, “I was pretty impressed with how well they all worked together.

“He was there to help with engineering and answer questions,” she said.

“And we had a lot of questions,” says Macchia.