Lawrence Students Learn About the Power of a Smile

Editor's Note: The following is a news release issued by Lawrence Township Public Schools.

How powerful is a smile when shared?

Operation Smile’s Volunteer Christine Stockton spoke to the third-grade CARE (Children Acting Responsibly Everyday) Kids at Lawrenceville Elementary School recently and proved that a smile can change a life.

Stockton will be volunteering in Kenya this spring with a team of medical personnel and local teen volunteers.

As a result of Stockton’s visit, third-graders were able to understand how difficult it is to speak and be understood with cleft lip and palate. She also shared that children with cleft lip and palate are unable to go to school and make friends.

Following the 40-minute surgery, a child’s life is changed forever. Stockton stressed to the third-graders that they all had “the power to make someone happy by looking someone straight in the eye and smiling. Just watch…they’ll smile back!”

Stockton created Lawrence High School’s Operation Smile Chapter in 1993, and it continues to be recognized as the largest student chapter on the East Coast. She has traveled across the globe to the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Ecuador and other developing countries.

During her visit with the CARE Kids, Stockton spoke about her volunteer position as student education team sponsor, traveling to Africa on behalf of Operation Smile for the past 11 years.

She spoke about families walking three days to be seen by the doctors and dentists who will be correcting cleft lip and palate. The Kenyan children will be wearing patient tags created by the Lawrenceville Elementary School students while they are awaiting their medical reviews.

Christine Stockton and her team of teen volunteers will also be traveling to local Kenyan schools and orphanages to teach dental health lessons while distributing toothbrushes, teaching supplies, and soccer balls donated by Lawrenceville Elementary School families.