Skip to main content
We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Beast Philanthropy!
Watch the Video
Image
Children enjoy exploring a bus in the Interactive Learning Center.

The Anthony L. and Hideko S. Burgess Interactive Learning Center

The Anthony L. and Hideko S. Burgess Interactive Learning Center

Now Accepting Requests for In-Person and Virtual Field Trips and Tours

Welcome

Welcome to the Anthony L. and Hideko S. Burgess Interactive Learning Center (ILC)! On your journey through the ILC, you’ll learn more about the patients and families we serve and our amazing volunteers who work together to bring healing and new smiles to those who need them most.

Video Still
Interactive Learning Center

The ILC serves as a “window to the world,” allowing visitors to journey alongside our friends who are affected by cleft conditions as they seek the safe surgery and comprehensive care they need and deserve. With empathy and compassion at the heart of the exhibit, ILC guests will better understand the challenges that patients and their families overcome on their paths toward brighter futures.  

This immersive experience seeks to educate students, the community and visitors to Virginia Beach about culture, medicine, geography and leadership.

Explore

The ILC was created to bring people closer to the organization’s work through the perspectives of nine friends – real Operation Smile patients who, despite many challenges and barriers, courageously took action and joined us in hopes of receiving surgery and other essential treatments at surgical programs and care centers around the world. 

Set in the birthplace of Operation Smile, the Philippines, the exhibit is equal parts legacy and learning. While visitors will learn all about Operation Smile and its global efforts to deliver essential cleft care where it’s needed most, the exhibit also teaches visitors about how the organization supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, provides an opportunity for career exploration, and supports lessons in science, technology, engineering, the arts and math (STEAM) as well as Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs). Perhaps most importantly, we hope everyone who experiences the ILC will leave with a greater sense of empathy and capacity for kindness. 

Whether you’re an educator with a classroom of students, a curious supporter, a corporate partner or someone who just wants to learn more about Operation Smile, we invite you all to meet our friends and follow in their footsteps as they journey to the program site. 

A student experiences the Interactive Learning Center.

Plan Your Visit

We are excited to welcome school and educational groups to this immersive exhibit. All tours must be reserved in advance by contacting us at [email protected].

The ILC can offer virtual field trips and virtual tour experiences to schools, classrooms and community groups. Please contact us to learn more about virtual opportunities.

Both virtual and in-person experiences can be tailored to meet the needs of specific classrooms or curricula. Email us to discuss personalized experiences.

Volunteer as a Docent

Spark curiosity about global surgery and citizenship by becoming a docent. ILC docents will guide tour groups of students and community members through this interactive and inspiring journey, as they learn more about medicine, science, math, geography, arts and leadership. 

“Volunteering for Operation Smile was an unforgettable experience. I enjoyed contributing to the Interactive Learning Center so visitors can take an immersive journey though the exhibit.” -Elizabeth Heller, Student Volunteer

Apply online or request an application

Students experience the Interactive Learning Center.

Special Thanks

It was their love of education – and each other – that made the ILC possible.

Enlightened by his travels and inspired by the love of his life, Hideko, Anthony “Tony” L. Burgess’ legacy of learning and hard work shines through his $1 million gift to Operation Smile. The Burgess family is empowering generations of young people to experience and embrace a global perspective.   

As a U.S. military veteran who met his wife while serving in Japan as an English teacher, Operation Smile’s mission and vision resonated with Tony.   

He researched charities in which education and children’s development were a priority, and when he met the team at Operation Smile and learned about the plans for the ILC, Tony knew he found the perfect fit for honoring Hideko’s memory.    

“I think we are all privileged to be a witness to a man who transcended himself to the highest level of human fulfillment, becoming a humanitarian,” said Fred Facka, the director of planned giving for Operation Smile. “And, in his case, from living a humble life.” 

MAKE A GIFT

It takes as little as $240 and as few as 45 minutes to provide life-changing surgery and a bright, beautiful new smile to a waiting child.