Heather on working with Smile Train in Guatemala: “Surgeons, doctors, and dentists … improve lives everyday—it’s an amazing way to spend your life.”
When people work together toward a common goal, big smiles emerge. So Kaplan teamed up with Smile Train—an international children’s charity that provides free cleft lip and palate surgeries—and sent four pre-health students on an educational trip to Guatemala. These future doctors, dentists, and healthcare providers not only spent valuable time with the children and their families, but they learned about Smile Train’s sustainability model, which empowers local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery in their communities.
You can share in these four students’ stories of insight, compassion, growth, and smiles.
Meet Heather on her path to unlocking the good life by going to dental school, becoming an orthodontist, and empowering her patients to gain confidence.
Kaplan: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Heather: My name is Heather Skeoch and I’m from Burlington, Ontario. I have just started the last year of my undergraduate education at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, where I am studying physiology and pharmacology. In my spare time, I stay active in my extracurricular pursuits of rowing, soccer, volleyball, basketball, piano, and volunteering as a youth leader for my church. I also love spending time with friends and family and try to fit in as much time as possible just hanging out.
Kaplan: What are your plans for the future?
Heather: My dream is to attend dental school next year in Canada. I’d eventually like to specialize as an orthodontist. Ever since I had braces, I’ve wanted to be an orthodontist to improve people’s confidence, giving them smiles they aren’t self-conscious to let show.
Kaplan: Let us know about your experience working with Smile Train in Guatemala.
Heather: I didn’t expect to learn so much from behind the scenes of a nonprofit organization—it was so incredible. Working with Smile Train, I was able to see firsthand not only how important sustainability is in an organization’s model, which I had previously only heard about, but also how crucial it is to include the local community in the grand plan so as to truly meet and correctly respond to people’s needs.
Guatemala is mountainous and beautiful. We traveled and stayed in a different city almost every day, allowing us to see much of the country. The families we met who had received free surgeries from Smile Train were so grateful, and the people waiting to be treated were so hopeful. Seeing so many children, teenagers, and adults who had cleft lip or palate opened my eyes to how widespread this issue really is around the world and how devastating it can be for a family that is either unaware of the surgeries available or unable to afford them. Smile Train has a beautiful, well thought-out mission: empowering local surgeons to improve the lives of the people in their communities.
Kaplan: What was your favorite part of the trip?
Heather: The day before we left, we were able to have some one-on-one time with two beautiful children, Angel and Alexander, who were scheduled for surgeries. The nurses let us hold, feed, and dote upon these two little ones. I’ve never really held a baby—let alone fed one—and it was truly a wonderful experience. I was struck with an overwhelming feeling of compassion and love. I could have sat there with them all day—smiling at them and watching them play with their favorite stuffed animals.
Kaplan: How has this trip solidified your passion to attend dental school and become an orthodontist?
Heather: Smile Train gives people smiles for which they are forever grateful. I want to do that for my patients. Surgeons, doctors, and dentists use their intelligence and dexterity to improve lives everyday—it’s an amazing way to spend your life.
K: Do you have any advice that you would share with other pre-health students applying to dental school?
H: I’d give the same advice a friend once gave me: when you’re prepping for your Dental Admissions Test (DAT), study as if you only get to take it once. Give it your all.
As for applying to dental school, I believe that, if this is what you’re meant to do, it’s going to happen. The application process is thorough and rigorous because the admission committees put their time and effort into determining who will really succeed in dental school and in the field. As much as I would hate getting rejection letters, I would hate even more to get accepted into dental school only to find that I’m not meant to be there. As much as I want to be a dentist, I trust that if I don’t get accepted, I will later, at some point, see the reason in hindsight. Whatever the outcome, I am confident that it will fit into the greater plan of my life.
K: How has working with cleft lip and palate children in Guatemala shaped what the good life means to you?
H: After being asked this quite a few times over the course of the trip, and after some more reflection, I’ve determined that the good life, to me, means using the gifts I’ve been blessed with to enhance the lives of those around me. If that means becoming an orthodontist so I can spark my patients’ confidence by improving their smiles, that’s fantastic. If it means encouraging friends, family, and strangers I encounter to find their inner smiles, that is equally wonderful. Maybe my good life will involve both. I’m excited to find out.
What have you seen in your pre-health education that has made you smile? Share your experiences in the comments below, on Facebook, or on Twitter. #kaplangoodlife #powerofasmile
Read more about Kaplan’s work with Smile Train sending pre-health students abroad:
