Some people are willing to change the world one step at a time, whether it’s through community service, or donating to a charitable organization. On campus, there are many students who are willing to invest time in their local communities, whether it is volunteering at the community food bank or taking part in the clean-up of a park. But some people enjoy helping out others in a different way, and Kylie Becker is one of them.
Kylie Becker, junior speech language hearing sciences major, is the president of the Operation Smile at Kean University. She became president in the beginning of the 2014 Fall semester, and has been a part of the club for about two and a half years now. “After graduation,” Becker says, “I would very much like to go to graduate school to get my masters in speech pathology. Hopefully I can attend the Nathan Weiss Graduate School,” she continues to say that “after [she] graduates [she] hopes to work as a speech pathologist in a school system and early intervention.”
Becker has many different hobbies, like photography and horseback riding—which she has been doing for 10 years—and is also very engaged in community service. Community service for her “is a big thing [she] engages in, especially since [she] love[s] volunteering.” Not only is Becker very interested in volunteering, but she is also interested in record shopping. “I always loved vinyl and grew up with my parents always listening to music throughout the house. My parents are into rock n' roll [Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, etc.] so I fell in love with music and records.”
Although Becker spends a fair amount of time indulging in her hobbies, she still remembers to give help to those in need. She joined Operation Smile because “we are changing the lives of these children forever.” Becker continues to say that “we all have different things that we wish we could change about ourselves, and most of the time we hold those issues on the inside. These children show the one thing they wish they could change on the outside. A majority of the time these children are ridiculed by their peers and ostracized by the community and their family. It's important to help these children live as normal lives as possible and let them know that they are beautiful. ” Becker upholds what it means to be a valuable asset to Operation Smile.
Operation Smile is a worldwide nonprofit organization that helps raise money and awareness for kids who suffer from cleft lip and/or cleft palate, otherwise known as orofacial cleft. The money raised for the kids who were born with orofacial cleft goes towards surgery in order to replace the missing tissue that was caused by the cleft lip or palate. Operation Smile was founded in 1982 with the help of volunteers of medical backgrounds. So far, this organization has been able to provide over 220,000 free surgical procedures to children in about 60 countries around the globe. This organization mainly helps children in third world countries like Nigeria because of the amount of families that have trouble financially and are unable to pay for the surgery. With Operation Smile in many different countries, families are given hope, and the parents are overwhelmed with joy knowing that their children will be okay.
Not only is Operation Smile in 60 different countries, but it is also in several colleges and universities throughout the United States, ,including Kean University. The club started in the Fall of 2009 on campus and has grown tremendously since then. Becker comments that there are about 80 people in Operation Smile. It is known to be a diverse club with many people majoring in different subjects, such as speech pathology and English. Last year alone, Operations Smile, “helped raised 1,000 dollars” comments Becker, “all of the money raised goes to the headquarters in Virginia; we don’t keep any of the money we raise.” Becker continues to say that “1,000 dollars can pay for about five surgeries,” since a surgery for a cleft lip or cleft palate cost about 240 dollars and five surgeries means five more beautiful smiles to add to the world. The club helps raise money through bake salls and fundraisers that are held on campus. Speaking of fundraisers, the club is having a fundraiser in February. Students and faculty can buy tickets for the New Jersey Devils versus the Boston Bruins hockey game taking place on Friday, February 27 2015. For more information regarding this fundraising event, please refer to CougarLink at (www.Kean.CollegiateLink.net)
