AHA Students Travel to Perú for International Operation Smile Event

Holy Angels provides students with many opportunities to become global citizens, including the Academy’s Operation Smile Club. This July, five Angels traveled to Lima, Perú, for Operation Smile’s International Student Leadership Conference. Seniors Elise Kim of Cresskill and Katelyn Freeburn of Mahwah attended with juniors Annika Castillo of Cresskill, Jacqueline Garcia of Bergenfield, and Isabella Zahirudin of Stony Point, New York. AHA’s representatives joined more than 250 participants from 23 countries.

“They learned from inspiring speakers about how to create change, and put their skills into practice during workshops and ultimately build friendships with peers who share their passion for service,” said Laura Kraytem, AHA’s Op Smile moderator. “The conference is specifically geared to hearing more about Operation Smile and what they do. Every day, there is a keynote speaker. It is someone who has made change in the world. Then there are workshops on all different things. There are team-building games. The next step is mission training, where the students learn the skills they need to present the health modules on the missions.”

Student volunteers who successfully apply for mission trips work directly with the families of children who receive Operation Smile’s life-changing, no cost corrective surgeries for cleft lip and palate. Student mission teams are health ambassadors who are responsible for presenting health modules on nutrition, handwashing, burn care, and dental hygiene to the families at the hospital and during off-site visits to schools and orphanages. In the evening, the students report to the surgical team on their experiences at the orphanage or school they visited. Often, the students are the only members of the mission team who leave the hospital, so their role is important. Entire villages benefit from learning how to get the nutrition needed from local foods, how to stop the spread of germs, and what to do if they are burned from cooking over an open fire.

Isabella Zahirudin, who also completed her mission training while she was in Perú, is one of a select group to be chosen for a mission. She will be going Bangalore, India, in October. This highly regarded volunteer also received Op Smile’s 2023 Francine Peterson Award for her “strong dedication to helping the community and demonstrating qualities that inspire others and prove that involvement can create a positive change.”

Kraytem nominated Zahirudin for her passion and dedication to Operation Smile, and for stepping up to run fundraisers, including bake sales and jeans pass events at AHA.

“I was extremely honored to receive the Francine Peterson Award,” Zahirudin said. “When I was told that I was nominated to receive an award and that I had won the Francine Peterson Award, I was shocked, but also very excited and grateful. I didn’t join Operation Smile with the intention of winning an award for my participation and dedication to spreading awareness and fundraising, but I was truly honored to have been recognized.”

Prospective Op Smile student volunteers must attend at least one international leadership conference. They must also apply for mission training, an extremely competitive challenge, since only about 20 volunteers are now being accepted worldwide. This year, Zahirudin applied along with applicants from Central America, Ireland, England, and Italy.

Zahirudin was excited to be chosen for mission training, because she knew that meant she had been selected to attend a surgical program (mission trip). She said she looks forward to witnessing the Operation Smile team changing lives. She is now collecting donations such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss picks, etc.

The key concept she brought home from her international experience is: “If you have an idea, put it out into the world. You never know how far just a simple idea can go, and when you surround yourself with people who can help you build off of those ideas, you are golden. This has helped me do more in my fundraising for Operation Smile and I have currently raised $3,000 in only three weeks. Even when fundraisers aren’t successful, or things aren’t going well, it is important to push through and maybe try another angle, and things may work out. The daughter of the founders of Operation Smile, Bridget, has taught all of us that.”

Operation Smile’s founders are AHA alumna Kathleen McGee and her husband, Dr. William McGee. This global non-profit has been accepting student volunteers since 1982.

Elise Kim also enjoyed traveling abroad and making new friends at the conference in Perú. She returned to AHA with new fundraising ideas and improved public speaking skills.

“I learned how to speak up in a big setting and a bunch of people,” Kim explained. “I’ve always struggled with talking in front of people and on a stage, but through this conference I learned to go out of my comfort zone.” She added, “The most valuable lesson I learned is to treat others in a respectful way because you never know what they’ve been through.”

Annika Castillo described her trip as an enriching and enjoyable experience.

“I made so many connections with the new people I met,” Castillo said, adding that she realizes that she can make a difference by reaching out to other people. “I would highly recommend this leadership conference to anyone.”