St. Bonaventure women's diving rising senior Izzy Aguilera is spending her summer in the educational and training department for Operation Smile in Madagascar.
Operation Smile is a non-profit organization that provides surgeries for people with cleft lips and cleft palates in low income countries.
Aguilera on what she is learning during her internship:
"I have learned a lot about what goes into running a non-profit organization. I have also learned about what the organization does to help tackle different barriers such as lack of infrastructure, staffing and access to transportation. There are a lot of different programs the education department has and it is interesting to see how they work to build sustainable healthcare. It has been an amazing experience so far and I have learned so much!"
Each year, Operation Smile conducts hundreds of medical missions in locations around the world. Every one of those locations is unique. In some places, the organization imports medical equipment and, in some places, medical expertise. In every location, the organization works with local health providers to deliver patients care in their own culture and in their own language.
How will this internship help you in the future?
"I hope to work in health care someday and this has really helped me see a whole different side of health care. I've learned that there is so much more to health care than just doctors and nurses."
Aguilera has competed for the Bonnies diving team for the past three seasons. She won the 1-meter dive at the Atlantic 10 quad meet and was named to the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll as a freshman. Aguilera took third and set a personal best score of 219.67 in a meet against Niagara as a junior last season. She has dove for the Brown and White at the last two Atlantic 10 Championships.