International Student Leadership Conference

Participants are required to book their own transportation to and from Washington, D.C.; those traveling via airplane should book flights to and from Dulles International Airport (IAD).

Operation Smile Student Programs will provide ground transportation from Dulles International Airport (IAD) to the University of Maryland on Monday, July 21, 2025, for flights that arrive between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time. We will also provide return transportation to Dulles International Airport (IAD) on Sunday, July 27, 2025, for flights that depart starting at 6 a.m., local time. Buses will be going to the airport all morning and the last bus will leave at 12 p.m. local time.

If you have any questions regarding travel, or if you’re having trouble fitting within the transportation timeframes, please email [email protected] before making final travel plans and booking your flights.

If you have only paid the registration fee of $250, your final conference payment is due May 31, 2025.

Remember, you can fundraise via your Participant Center for the remaining conference fee or make payments yourself according to your own timeline. If we do not confirm final payment by June 15, 2025, your registration may be terminated.

You may complete this payment on the ISLC Website.

ISLC policies are uniformly set and enforced for all students, regardless of age. For the safety and protection of everyone involved, participants directly, or in the case of minors, through their parents or legal guardians, are subject to and agree to comply with our conference policies.

Please refer to page six of our first Conference Packet to review our policies.

Participants must wear appropriate, tasteful and modest clothing for the time, activity, and standards of the host country’s culture. Clothing must be clean and neat. Although casual wear is acceptable, we ask that you refrain from wearing the following items during our conference gatherings: tube tops, crop tops, sweatpants, pajama pants, short shorts, miniskirts and other clothing of similar fashion. Operation Smile, Inc. (OSI) retains the right to require any participant to change attire deemed inappropriate at any time.

ISLC welcomes rising or current high schoolers as well as undergraduate students who are age 22 or younger by the time of the conference. Chaperones must be at least 26 years old by the time of the conference.

General high school and university students and assistant team leaders: US $1,200

Adult Chaperones: US $1,000

Team Leaders: US $850

If financial barriers are keeping you from attending ISLC, let us know. Please send an email to [email protected].

Of course! We’d love to have you, and ISLC is a great opportunity to advance your English-language goals. Please be aware the conference is held entirely in English, so we encourage you to be comfortable speaking and understanding English before you arrive.

We here at Operation Smile do everything we can to ensure your safety and well-being at every step of the conference. During ISLC, we have at least one nurse and one guidance counselor available at all times, a designated doctor is always on call for support at the closest available hospital, and two adult chaperones are appointed to your team to support you throughout. We also have a designated transportation committee that ensures your safe arrival and departure from the conference. If you ever have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at [email protected] and we’ll get back to you as quickly as possible.

Yes! ISLC counts toward 40 service hours, and we provide you with an official certificate.

We want to help you meet new friends from different places, so we pick your roommate and we place you on your team.

We couldn’t host ISLC without the support of our chaperone team. Chaperones help Operation Smile staff conduct the conference by supporting a team of students, conducting room checks, and more. Chaperones must be at least 26 years old by the time of the conference. The fee to attend as a chaperone is US$1,000.