Why we started this:
An OpSmile Story
At 16, as I stood in the recovery room of an Operation Smile medical mission—translating between surgeons and nurses and playing with children before life-changing cleft palate surgeries—I had an idea that would change everything. As Finance Chair of Miles for Smiles (M4S), the largest student-led Operation Smile initiative in Mexico, I rallied over 1,000 runners each year for the M4S charity race and helped raise $30,000 annually— enough for around 20 surgeries.
But I kept seeing a bigger pattern. While powerful, initiatives like M4S often operated in silos. So I asked myself: What if students everywhere could build something of their own... together?
"Miles for Smiles is a reminder of what we can do when we come together for something bigger than ourselves."
