Smile Makeover and Giant Dreams

An updated look, at an extraordinary event for a former MHS Student, Haley Jordan, who now has over a million followers since this story began! (October, 2024)  

When I took the position of Library Media Center Specialist four years ago, I had a lot of dreams.   Winning a National Smile Makeover Contest for someone else was NOT one of them. Sometimes Dreams Come to Us in the Most Unusual Ways.

Happy New Year, 2018! I hope this first blog post of the new year gives you reason to smile. It is the celebration of an almost two-year journey, a dreams-do-come-true story chronicling how our library's presence on social media led to a local girl winning a National Smile Makeover Contest in an improbable intersection of circumstances - a New Year's viral video, @giantslibrary on Twitter, and a generous cosmetic dentist (Dr. Daniel Rubinshtein) from NYC. It is the inspirational story of a Smile Makeover for Haley Jordan, a 2012 MHS grad with Giant Dreams, who continues to make her dreams come true.
It has been called the most important human gesture we can give - the smile. In Ron Gutman’s Ted Talk, The Hidden Power of Smiling, he reports that British researchers found that one smile can provide the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 chocolate bars!   According to one article, smiling can increase your lifespan by 7 years! Sharing a smile costs nothing and reaps priceless benefits, making Haley's gift much more priceless than the aesthetic value alone.

Put aside the political press about Twitter, now X.  This tale is a testament to the powerful capability of social media for good.  Haley’s story inspired Dr. Rubinshtein, and in turn, his spirit of giving inspires others to give back as well. His own version of Haley’s Smile Makeover has over 60,000 views!

Just after New Year’s 2016, Dr. Rubinshtein’s Smile Makeover Contest had gone viral.  As Marion High School’s Library Media Specialist, I saw the video on Twitter; a young dentist was offering a life-changing opportunity, the chance for a new smile for a complete stranger. Immediately, I KNEW who could use that makeover, a former Marion High School alumni, who was part of a rising new YouTube sensation, The Fitness Marshall, consisting of three Marion grads, Allison Florea(2012), Haley, and its creator, Caleb Marshall (2011). I went to work on my entry.  It would be a long shot; after all, this was a national contest; there would be thousands of entries.  

Two weeks later, I received a call from NYC - Haley was the winner! I felt like I’d won the lottery! True to his word, Dr. Rubinshtein paid for Haley’s travel as well as her dental care as she began traveling between Indiana and New York for her dental visits while she attended Ball State University.  It wasn’t long after Haley’s braces were put on, that her smile began to change.  By Christmas of the following year, it was already beautiful!  

Haley meets Dr. Daniel for the first time.

While the online popularity of the Fitness Marshall continued to climb, in March of 2016, Haley began her own YouTube channel with just over one million subscribers!

Eighteen months after her first consultation, on October 17, 2017,Haley underwent her final visit with Dr. Rubinshtein. As a surprise for her, Dr. Rubinshtein invited me to fly to NYC to be there for the unforgettable celebration as Haley’s smile was completed.  I will always carry with me the joy of that afternoon, meeting Dr. Daniel in person, and seeing Haley’s beautiful smile without braces for the first time. Most of all, I’ll remember this improbable journey of generosity and heart.   In Giving Back: A New Year's Resolution for Social Media Celebrities, Barrett Wiseman identifies a new class of celebrity, “the social media influencer,” and challenges them to give back with consistent dedication, rather than the usual one-stop photo op or one-time donation.

 

Haley sees her smile without braces for the First Time. 

Also known as “Dr. Snapchat,” Dr Rubinshtein went beyond what Wiseman suggested by committing to a long-term investment in Haley.  How easily he could’ve chosen someone closer to NYC, someone whose treatment would be over in a few months.  Instead, he spent almost a year and a half flying Haley back and forth from Indiana to NYC, making adjustments until all was just right. He is a rare giver and asks only that Haley give back as well.  One only has to catch her vlog and see her passion for helping others be healthy to know she is already doing that. She is generous with her time and engaged with her followers in ways that depict a sense of responsibility to give back.

Between the time of her initial consultation with Dr. Rubinshtein and Haley’s final visit, The Fitness Marshall achieved star status (now with over SIX million subscribers!) The Fitness Marshall has also been named NUMBER 1 by Glamour Magazine for the Best YouTube workouts!  “Its fans and popularity have grown beyond the groups wildest dreams and has granted Haley a life that once seemed unattainable.”     

                                      Jennifer Sherlock of jennacommunications 

With a smile that matches her personality Haley, Haley just reached the milestone of over one million followers, and was thrilled to be chosen as a representative for Ulta Collective and Fenty Beauty as well as endorsing other name brands like Hello Fresh and ClassPass.

With his Smile Makeover Contest, Dr. Rubinshtein hoped to inspire others to “find ways to integrate your interests and skills with the needs of others.”  Although we all may not be in the position to offer such a substantial gift, we are capable of helping others, in both large and small ways.  Whatever ‘good’ you do, science, psychology, and the smiles of grateful people say it’s good for you as well as for them.  

May 2018 be filled with Giant Dreams and genuine smiles, both ones you give and ones you receive. With one smile, you CAN change your world. Never underestimate its power.  

Haley with our Marion High School Marketing Class

Haley with Rhianna in 2023!  

The Fitness Marshall: Allison Florea, Caleb Marshall, Haley Jordan

Resources on the Positive Effects of a Smile and Giving Back

Ted Talk - The Power of a Smile
The Hidden Power of Smiling - 8 Facts about your smile... 
Smiling Extends your Life Span

New Year’s Resolutions for Good

The Importance of Giving Back  

Making Generosity a Habit

Remembering 9-11 (Updated)

"Where were You When the World Stopped Turning." 
Above is a slideshow I made for the first anniversary of 9-11.

Did You Know?  Indiana is only one of 14 states that requires 9-11 instruction?  It is not part of the curriculum and is largely up to districts, schools, and individual teachers. Other states include New York, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois,  Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Maryland.Sep 8, 2023

I am one of those teachers who devoted time to explaining the significance of 9-11. It didn't occur to

me not to do it.  Years later, the 9-11 Museum has provided RESOURCES and LESSON PLANS divided by grade level and theme.  Hoping this will be helpful to any of our teachers who are choosing to cover 

this topic.  

May We Always Remember 9-11 (updated September, 2024)

For 17 years, on and off during the time I taught English,  I took 8th graders and their parents on a trip to NYC, sponsored by an incredible theater teacher and his wife, Ray and Peg Casey.  They took hundreds of students from all over Indiana, including our students from MCS. Those trips remain some of my favorite memories.  In June, 2001, I had a group that included students, fellow teachers, friends and their children.  On a beautiful June morning, we went to the World Trade Center, and most went to the top as the trip included.  But my 11-year-old daughter Regan, wanted to go shopping instead.  We'll go another time, I told myself.  Of course, no one could have imagined the unthinkable loss soon to come. That afternoon, she was embarrassed as I made her stand up in the boat during a cruise around the tip of the island.  How blessed we are to have taken that last picture with those majestic towers in the background.  

 The day the towers fell, I was collecting money for the 2002 trip.  It happened to be the first day Justice Middle School had Cable TV in all the classrooms; so, the entire school watched in disbelief and horror as the day unfolded.  

It would be two years before we took my last student trip there, 54 of us...below is the link to a Google album of a very solemn visit to Ground Zero and a few pictures from a 2016 trip where my son and I saw the reflecting pools where the towers once stood. Being there is haunting and beautiful at the same time.   Visit to Ground Zero, 2003

Included below are some of my favorite documentaries or short pieces that students and staff might want to re-visit or see for the first time. 

One of my favorite tributes is a beautiful documentary from CNN that tells the story as it unfolded.  Called 9-11 America Remembers, it is especially good for students who have no memory of the day, as they were not born yet, or any of us for which the memory has faded.  

  

This 9-11 Symbaloo of Resources has dozens of tiles linked to a variety of resources, with all kinds of multi-media as well as lesson plans. 

Our Destiny Discover App has an interactive book which plays as a short video. Students can read on their own, or teachers may present on the large screen. It is an interesting story about the picture below that became a symbol of bravery that day.

Some other short videos you might appreciate are linked below.

• 20 Years Later - How is 9-11 taught in schools? 
• “The Keepers of 9 -11.” As the 9-11 Memorial Museum opens, its chief curator and officials at other New York institutions describe how they selected the objects by which future generationswill remember Sept. 11, 2001. 
• President Bush Addresses the Nation the evening of 9-11
• A Look Inside the 9-11 Memorial Museum.

MAY WE ALWAYS REMEMBER.