Guest Blog: A Pledge of Allegiance

A class uses flash cards to review questions for the citizenship exam.

Students prepare by using
this study guide.

  

GINA SOLOMON

 ALL Adult Education Director

Last week, I was invited to attend the citizenship swearing in ceremony at the Federal Courthouse in Downtown Orlando. My ESOL student, Yency, was finally seeing her hard work and dedication pay off as she was sworn in as a new U.S. citizen. I remember meeting Yency five years ago, when she came to ALL to get help with her English language skills. She came from El Salvador and had been living in the U.S. for several years already.  When we met, Yency was a shy but sweet young woman who was eager to learn English so that she could fully embrace her American Dream. Yency has 2 children of her own who were born here in the U.S.  Approximately 4 years ago, she became guardian of her 3 youngest siblings—a role she accepted wholeheartedly after her mom passed away in El Salvador.

Fast forward to present day … and imagine my pleasure (and surprise) when Yency walked into the League to drop off brochures from the immigration attorney for whom she is now employed. She was bubbly and confident and speaking English BEAUTIFULLY!  I was so excited for her and wanted to celebrate her successful journey, so naturally, I accepted her invitation to attend her swearing in ceremony. What an honor it would be to share this day with her!

I have been to one previous “swearing in ceremony” at the Immigration Services Office and it was beautiful. However, Yency’s ceremony, held at the Federal Courthouse with the Honorable Karla Spaulding presiding, was unforgettable.  I brought my 5-year old son with me so that he could learn a little bit about how special it is to be born an American and the sacrifices that other people make just to become U.S. citizens. While we were waiting on the bench outside the courtroom, I noticed a pretty blonde woman staring at me. It finally dawned on me that this lady was ALSO an ALL student, Maritza, whom I hadn’t seen in over a year. She, too, was being sworn in as a U.S. citizen!

I wrote down the countries of birth for the roughly 50 new Americans as they were read aloud by Judge Spaulding: Albania, Belarus, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Haiti, Hungary, India, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Montserrat, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela and Vietnam.

ALL instructor Vince Scalise works with
volunteers during a citizenship workshop.

 It was like music to my ears to listen to all of the different voices and accents reciting the Pledge of Allegiance after being sworn in.  It made me think about all of the students here at ALL, who speak over 20 different languages and come from 55 different countries. Most of them have similar dreams like Yency and Maritiza; they come to the U.S. to provide a better way of life for themselves and their children. So far this year, we’ve had 17 students become U.S. citizens thanks to the help of our dedicated volunteer tutors and the very popular ESOL instructor, Vince Scalise, who teaches citizenship classes twice a week. Students enrolled in Vince’s class have a 100% passing rate on their citizenship exam. The national average is about 94%. 

I think my favorite part of Yency’s swearing in ceremony was when Judge Spaulding appealed to all of the new citizens and asked that they not lose their native cultures. Judge Spaulding encouraged the new citizens to embrace their languages and traditions and to proudly share them with other Americans. As we prepare to celebrate America’s birthday on July 4^th, let us not forget that it is our willingness to understand one another -by respecting and celebrating our differences- that makes our country so great.