Meet Our 2023 Smile Train College Scholarship Winners

The cleft has also led to me working on my speech for my whole life because of the shortening of my palate, which causes air to get through when it shouldn’t. So, I have my speech nearly back to the average level of speech. Also, people do ask about the scar on my lip, but this does not make me embarrassed but rather grateful for the opportunity I have been given to improve my mentality. Having a cleft palate will inform my future by wanting me to create affordable hearing aids for anyone, or I want to help develop a cell to help bring these Eustachian Tubes back to function. I want to pursue a career in the field of engineering to help grow these desires and goals. I only want to let my cleft palate help push me to be better and prove to the world that it has not affected me for the worse.

So, I joined the speech team hoping to improve my abilities. And I was, expectedly, terrible at it. It was embarrassing because I was surrounded by older high schoolers who were so much better and enjoyed the speech. That made me way more discouraged in my quest to improve. But after two years, I started performing poetry reading events. And this, I found, was something I actively enjoyed. I love poetry, and getting to perform readings that I related to made me more passionate about what I was speaking about. It gave me the means to express my emotions in a way I didn’t normally have. I slowly began to improve, which my coach took notice of. By my junior year, my coach appointed me team captain. I was a little nervous about this leadership role, but I quickly realized how much I enjoyed it. I loved helping my younger speech team members with their speeches and worries. I was able to be a reassuring presence to their stage fright that my coach gave me when I first joined the team. I was grateful my coach saw leadership qualities in me that I was too blind to recognize in myself. It taught me to be more confident in my ability to lead. Being the speech team captain changed my life in so many ways. It helped me get more comfortable with my stage fright, taught me responsibility, and gave me experience in coaching my peers. I want to continue being an encouraging presence in other people’s lives because everyone deserves to reach their full potential.

I had my first surgery, the cleft lip repair, immediately upon my arrival in the United States. It was a quick fix and a successful operation! My cleft palate repair, along with surgical interventions on my ears and nose, required more surgeries than I can remember. The hundreds of visits to doctors and speech pathologists, the surgeries, and the long recovery periods punctuated the next 16 years of my life. Almost every school break and every summer was spent undergoing and recovering from surgery. I lost the summer break before my first year of middle school to a bone graft. I lost the summer before my sophomore year to a deviated septum repair and cleft revision. Most recently, I lost my winter break to my final surgery, an 11-hour, double jaw procedure to correct my underbite. After over 25 surgical procedures, I know what it feels like to miss track meets and gymnastic competitions, school dances, and holiday celebrations. I know what it feels like to be left out. I became focused on making sure others did not feel this same way. I’ve had a lot of quiet time to make sense of what happened: why me and why this? I have found some answers in medical science and others through my faith. Most importantly, I resolved to study hard and work hard to become a surgeon on a cleft lip/palate team. I want to change lives the way my life was changed. Most importantly, I want to use my experience to make me an excellent physician.

From my experience in the past, I have discovered that one simple smile can do a lot for an individual. It always baffled me at the orthodontist’s office as a child, seeing many of the “before and after” picture comparisons displayed within the lobby. It also brought me joy to see the celebrations that the office had when another patient was done with their orthodontic treatment. These “new smiles” tend to make people feel better about themselves, as I have seen myself discussing with individuals who don’t understand why my face appears different from others.

I have also seen the value of the ability of individuals to put a smile on anyone’s face- even aside from medical treatment. Operating a major roller coaster at a theme park, I am constantly smiling because I spend my shifts making people happy after going 76 miles per hour through 3 inversions on 4,075 feet of track. Coming off the ride, people have different reactions to the experience. While some come off sick (as expected), the vast majority are incredibly joyous coming off the ride, with many clapping, smiling, cheering, etc.

I have also made some strong connections thus far due to my cleft lip, palate, and related medical history. Notably, Camp Boggy Creek in Eustis, Florida, has become one of my favorite places on Earth. This summer camp is targeted for children with special medical conditions, as well as their families, throughout the fall and spring seasons. Through this retreat, I have made a variety of friends over the seven years I have attended- including many whom I speak with on a daily basis. This upcoming summer, I am even volunteering as a summer camp counselor for two weeks of camp! This is a long-term opportunity for growth, as something I view as valuable to my personal life experience and allowing me to contribute to those around me. I likely wouldn’t have heard of Camp Boggy Creek if it wasn’t for my cleft lip and palate.

Long-term, understanding the value that a smile can bring to an individual largely has influenced me thus far to do as I do and has influenced my long-term plans with goals of contributing to others around me, as well as educating others with regard to craniofacial-related abnormalities. It has also influenced the long-term goals of my career, as well as the continued goal of education and volunteering in similar manners.