Keep Calm and Smile On!

Operation Smile BU opened the semester with promising prospects. We had a number of club fairs lined up and opportunities to speak at other clubs about the cause. Our club gained some strong new freshman leaders and early club meetings had high attendance. We were excited to get back into the swing of things and start planning a big event for the fall. Taking a cue from the success our friends at Operation Smile at Fordham University have had, we had been working on a big "Songs For Smiles" event which would feature acapella groups, a staple of BU club entertainment. In past semesters we had gotten interest from groups to perform but failed to get our act together when it came to navigating the bureaucracy of our Student Activities Office. This semester we tried to learn from our mistakes and focus on cutting through the red tape ahead of time. We put in a lot of time getting the necessary paperwork into the school, but this time the acapella groups were booked up for the fall, despite our best efforts to schedule around their needs. After a lot of concerted effort to make it happen, things fell apart again. This is a frustrating, but not uncommon part of running a club in college.

But that's okay. We decided to keep calm and smile on. We regrouped and searched for new ways to raise funds. Our dedicated Treasurer Kallista Hammer who had spent the most time working on planning the acapella group pulled through yet again and found a donor to enable us to buy t-shirts. We decided we needed a cool design that would sell well, while spreading awareness. We immediately thought of our friends at Operation Smile Wash U. St. Louis. We asked to borrow their design and put it in a fresh new color. We now have great t-shirts available for $10 (+$5 shipping). Email opsmile@bu.edu to order.