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As the world marks the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, here are the stories of seven students who came to Tufts already equipped with a purpose and a plan to make a difference in this changing world. 
'The Ultimate Satisfaction'As Juliet's eyes fluttered open in the recovery room, Betsy Shenk (D'09) was there beside her. The young Venezuelan girl had just awakened from surgery to repair her cleft lip and palate—surgery that was free thanks to a nonprofit called Operation Smile. Shenk was there as a volunteer with the organization. "The moment she opened her eyes, she just saw me and she crawled up me like a tree and just clung to me," she recalls. "I couldn't help myself from crying after that because they really do touch a part of you." That girl is one of 98,000 similar children and young adults Operation Smile has helped since its founding in 1988. Cleft lip occurs when there is a separation of the two sides of the lip, and cleft palate involves an opening in the roof of the mouth. The conditions affect one out of every 600 newborns, according to the Cleft Palate Foundation. "When you see that you can actually afford another person that feeling to be normal again, it's something that's kind of addicting," says Shenk, now a student at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. "It's such a life-changing feeling to know you can have an influence on someone else's life." Shenk got started with the organization when she was a middle-schooler in Columbus, Ohio, attending youth conferences and going on a mission to Venezuela as a high school student. When she went to Vanderbilt as a pre-professional student, she launched a chapter of Operation Smile there and went on a mission with the organization to China.
Her volunteer work turned into a job—for two years, she worked as a mission coordinator, helping launch new missions in India and overseeing fact-finding trips around the world. Shenk found the work rewarding, but wanted to play a more "hands-on" role. So she enrolled at Tufts School of Dental Medicine to learn how to perform the procedures she had been helping arrange for years. "Once I'm done with my education, I'll actually be able to treat the children, which I think is the ultimate satisfaction, knowing that you are the one that actually was responsible for the change that occurred," explains Shenk. Shenk was drawn to Tufts by the high praise she had heard of the institution in dental circles. In fact, she saw Tufts' reputation affirmed in the most unlikely of places—an interview at another school. "They said, 'Honestly, if you get into Tufts and you really like it, I couldn't say a bad thing about the school,'" Shenk recalls. "I think that says a lot about the program, when another school, a very reputable school, says something like that." Shenk hopes to expand the number of Operation Smile missions that focus solely on all aspects of dentistry—currently there is just one, a Vietnam mission coordinated by the University of Maryland—by adding a new country to the organization's roster with Tufts as the coordinating body. To that end, she has been working with Dr. Gulsun Gul, an assistant professor in the School of Dental Medicine's Division of Public Health. An informational luncheon she organized for students in spring 2006 featured talks by an Operation Smile patient and a local dentist who had worked with the program as a student. Shenk says more dental-only missions are needed to emphasize the importance of overall oral health. Kids and their parents, she says, aren't educated about the need to take care of their teeth, but are receptive to learning.
"They get really excited to get a toothbrush and start taking care of themselves." says Shenk. "Just brushing their teeth twice a day, or even if they don't have the money for the toothpaste, to just get a toothbrush and rinse out their mouths when they eat something sugary… It can really make a big different in a child's life growing up." Another big part of the task Operation Smile faces is educating people about how to help children avoid being born with these deformities. While the exact cause of the condition is unknown, it is believed to be a combination of genetic, nutritional and other influences. Shenk defines the challenge this way: "It’s bringing more awareness to the issue and to the governments wherever we are that this is a problem. They need to start educating their people. [The condition] does exist, and it's not just a fable. It really does happen." Shenk's desire to share her knowledge and expertise has become one of her passions. "Once it gets in your blood, that's what we used to say, you can never get it out," she says. "Once you realize the effect that you can have, you keep coming back for more."
Profile written by Georgiana Cohen All photos by Brian Loeb (A'06), except for Shenk photo by Joanie Tobin, Tufts University Photo This story originally ran on Sept. 11, 2006. |
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