A naturalization ceremony was held by the University of North Florida’s Hicks Honors College to celebrate the process of 49 immigrants becoming official citizens of the United States.
Over 500 individuals gathered in UNF’s Adam W. Herbert University Center on Nov. 19 to watch the new citizens take an oath of allegiance and receive a citizenship certificate, including their families, UNF students and federal officials.
Although naturalization ceremonies typically take place in a federal courthouse, Marcia Morales Howard, United States District Judge and former member of the UNF Honors Dean’s Council, was able to turn the center into a courtroom after following specific protocols.
During the ceremony, UNF’s ROTC delivered a presentation of colors and choral student Lavonya Johnson performed the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful.”
Dr. Rahul V. Deshmukh, a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon, delivered a speech and a presentation of flags to the oldest and youngest citizens.
The citizens and their families were paired with a UNF student ambassador who spoke their language. The 49 student ambassadors gained the experience of presenting their paired future citizens to the court.
Over 280 students from the Hicks Honors College, including students in the National Identity and Migration honors course, attended to gain an experience that connected the course’s core theme of national identity.
“This ceremony provided hundreds of UNF students from the Hicks Honors College the unique opportunity to witness a live civics lesson,” said Hicks Honors College Interim Dean Dr. Scott Brown in a press release.
Dr. Leslie Kaplan, Hicks Honors College Director, said that the judge spoke about the naturalization journey and process, highlighting the value of citizenship. Kaplan shared insights on how she was able to organize the naturalization ceremony with UNF.
Kaplan shared that she had a conversation about her NIM course with Howard, who told her that one of her favorite parts about being a judge is performing naturalization ceremonies.
According to Kaplan, the event was held during her students’ class time, with about 65 students volunteering. “For some students, they had gone through a personal experience of being naturalized. Now, they got to escort someone else through that process,” Kaplan shared.
Earlier that day, the future citizens came early to fill out paperwork and spend an hour getting to know their paired student ambassadors. The student ambassadors learned how to pronounce their names correctly to present them to the court.
Because many citizens had children who did not speak English, student volunteers assisted with childcare, setting them up with activities including coloring and games.
Before the ceremony, there was a rehearsal for student ambassadors and those involved with the event, including the presentations of flags and colors.
Sophomore honors student and child psychology major Erin Roberts talked about her experience as a student ambassador arranging the childcare for the naturalization ceremony.
Roberts took the NIM course as a freshman and is now a philanthropy facilitator, serving as one of the 40 volunteer student teachers for the course. She leads one of the group breakouts and helps coordinate engaging experiences for students.
“My experience was wonderful,” said Roberts. “As an ambassador, I was able to meet an immigrant named Andrea who was from Venezuela. We talked with citizens for an hour to learn about their background and story,” she said.
Roberts was touched by the immigrants’ journey to naturalization.
“Getting to introduce the citizens to the court was a very sweet and beautiful moment. I got to watch the families hug each other,” she shared.
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