Katie always felt there had to be something more to life than just partying, buying clothes and driving a cool car. She finally discovered what she was missing out on when she traveled halfway around the world to help poor kids. When she was 14, she discovered a club at school called Operation Smile, an organization that supports free operation for facially deformed kids in developing countries. At that time, she joined Operation Smile just to satisfy her school's community service requirement. After working with Operation Smile for a while, she learned different countries have different deformities  . The more she learned about what affects kids around the world, the more she wanted to go abroad with Operation Smile. At 15, she was chosen to go abroad. She was so happy - even though she didn't realize what she was getting herself into. Before her trip, she attended a weekend "mission training". That's when she was told she'd be going to the Philippines. Although she was excited, one night during training, she broke down in tears. She didn't know if she was prepared to see all these unfortunate kids. She was put to work three days after her arrival in the Philippines. Her first day was at the hospital, where she met those kids waiting for operation, and they were running around and happy, it seemed normal. Her job was to play with the kids before their operation to help them feel more at ease. She also went to nearby schools to hand out toothbrushes and teach students how to brush their teeth. When their operation was over, the kids were always overjoyed, but their parents were blown away. Sometimes they couldn't even recognize their kids because their appearances had improved so much. They'd cry and hug the doctors and nurses and give them presents--they were so grateful. Why did the author join the Operation Smile?
To help poor kids in developing countries, To satisfy her own curiosity. To do what was required by the school. To operate on those unfortunate kids.