Marist College: Persistence & Passion in University Involvement

Hello my fellow Op Smilers!

My name is Samantha DeVito and I am currently a freshman at Marist College
in Poughkeepsie, NY. I want to share my progress thus far with establishing an
Operation Smile presence in the Poughkeepsie area.

Before I entered college I emailed the Vice President of Club Affairs to ask about
the process of starting a new club at Marist. It took a long time to have a meeting
with him. I waited and sent several emails. I eventually met with him and explained
my purpose and my experiences with Operation Smile. He explained that he had to
meet with the administration in order to proceed further. I guess in a way I should
have realized what was occurring. There were no answer to my questions, and
there were really no intentions of creating an Operation Smile Student Club. This
was because at Marist there was and probably never will be non-profit based clubs.
There is a limited amount of space for clubs. We also have the priority point system:
criteria that give students that do well the opportunity to receive better housing
for the following year. (gpa, club involvement aka activity points, room condition,
behavior, etc.) The real issue was that, if I were to start my club, then how could the
administration choose which non-profits get to have a presence on campus or not.
To them, they did not want to be in the position to have to say no to certain causes.
As the semester ended I knew that no matter how persistent and passionate I was
never going to get the result that I wanted. The outcome was that I could try and
find a department that would fund my efforts to hold events, I could wait to see if
the administration would come around and say yes, and lastly I could find another
club that would use Operation Smile as the organization for the required community
service event. I wanted to have a club just like all the other ones; I would reward
those that were involved with priority points and hold events like everyone else.

Over the winter break I pondered what to do. It seemed that I lost my window of
opportunity of gaining members because students already found the clubs they
wanted to join for the year and are content with the effort they are putting in.
I told myself that I could not give up. I had to find another way to stay involved
with Operation Smile. Last year I was at such an involved point and then this past
August it felt like I was dropped off at the side of the road hoping to get picked up
some time soon. There are 3 programs for University students established: UPave,
UVoice, and ULead. At the time applications were due I was unable to spend the
1,500 dollars for UVoice and ULead programs so I decided that I would take part
in the UPave internship program. It is designed to promote leadership and provide
curricula for students at the elementary level. I love people and being a positive
force in the lives of others so this seemed like a great opportunity to stay involved.

I am currently taking my first Public Praxis course to fulfill my minor. For my
project I decided to start the UPave program. I discussed what I wanted to do in
class, and two seniors were actually student teaching and asked their principals for
me if I could do it!! (One is at an elementary school and another at a high school).

I was so happy. Finally I had someone let me have the opportunity to make a
difference in the lives of others. Now I am at the point where I sent out an email
and I am still waiting for confirmation to begin, but it is so much better then having
nothing at all like last semester.

My experiences so far have proven several things to me and I hope that it can help
you too.

1.) Never let one person saying no bring you down: we all have our obstacles
to overcome before we succeed. Not being allowed to start a club was
frustrating and upsetting. (Ask James Reid how I was all last semester) Please
keep in mind that when one door closes, 3 more will open. My friends that
are education majors even want to help me out with creating the lesson plans
and presenting to the students. If I did not try to find other ways to spread
awareness about my cause, I would not have so many options open to me
now.
2.) Persistence & passion: Always keep in mind that this really isn’t about you. I
love Operation Smile and everything that they do. I remind myself that what I
am doing is changing the lives of the children and I try to convey that to those
that I am speaking to. Stay focused on the real purpose and never give up.
3.) Stay in touch with the people that want to support you: James Reid is a
perfect example of this. There was a time that I talked to him every day with
the progress I was trying to make. He supported me by give me ideas of what
to do and most importantly he was there to listen to what I had to say which
got me through the semester. (Thank you so much James!)
4.) Use your resources: oscentral.org, Facebook, this blog, other op smilers are
the people to talk to and use if you need help. There is no reason you cannot
succeed.
5.) Stay true to yourself: don’t let negative experiences change your mind about
Op Smile or the place you are at. I was considering transferring from Marist
because I felt that my voice was not being heard and that wanting to start Op
Smile was not being cared for as I do. I decided to stay because I am in LOVE
with Marist College, but more importantly because I was not going to take no
for an answer and I wanted to prove that great things can be done.

So go out there and be the change! Take your enthusiasm for Operation Smile with
you wherever you go because you never know where you might end up

I hope this helps and encourages anyone reading and if you want to get in touch
with me you can email me at devito.samantha@gmail.com

Peace, Love & Op Smile,

Samantha DeVito
Marist College

University of Connecticut NSSLHA

Our organization is called National Student
Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA). We are a group of undergrad
and graduate students that are going into the fields of Speech Language
Pathology or Audiology. I am the president of this organization this year
and I have helped our organization with fundraisers to raise money to go
to Operation Smile. This is our first year donating to Operation Smile
however, everyone loves the idea of every semester doing a fundraiser and
always giving to Operation Smile (sense those children that are in need of
surgery are relevant to the population we are going to be working with
once we are done with school). Therefore, I just wanted to let you know
the fundraisers our organization has done this year.

In the fall semester all of the members received neon sunglasses to sell
for $2 each around campus and to family and friends. The colors were hot
pink, neon green, neon yellow, blue, and red. On the side of the
sunglasses they read "NSSLHA UConn." We were able to sell over 300 pairs
within a months time and gives the proceeds of $210 to Operation Smile
just before Christmas. During that time, an organization was matching
every dollar that was donated so we were able to give $420!

For our spring semester fundraiser, we are currently selling t-shirts to
everyone majoring in 'communication disorders.' Our profit will be going
towards Operation Smile again! :) I have attached a proof of what the
t-shirt says/looks like and I will let you know how successful this
fundraiser is.

I hoping that in future years NSSLHA is able to give more and more each
year to Operation Smile.




Nicole Qualls
nicole.qualls@uconn.edu
NSSLHA - President.