Receiving the certificate of citizenship.Thirty-nine new citizens were welcomed to the Outer Banks yesterday at a swearing in ceremony at the Wright Brothers Memorial.
It was an amazing event—emotional, awe-inspiring and perhaps a little bit intimidating with the realization of what these newest Americans coming from 23 countries have gone through to follow their dream.
There were remarks from Jay Wesselmann U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Dave Hallac, Superintendent of the National Park Outer Banks Group—and they were thoughtful and appropriate. The day, though, belonged to those 39 men and women who had traveled from China, the Philippines, Yemen, Viet Nam or Brazil to follow the dream of opportunity.
And what is compelling and does not seem to have changed since first immigrant set foot on these shore—parents were coming to give their children a better life . . . more opportunity, a better education and the chance to freely express themselves.
One of the most memorable images from the day was the joy on the faces of every new citizen as they came forward to receive a certificate of citizenship. Without speaking a word, their actions shouted out that the ideal that the United States embodies is still very much alive.
The Countries represented at the Swearing in Ceremony:
The Philippines, Taiwan, Columbia, Trinidad and Tobago, the People's Republic of China., Mexico, Ecuador, India, Canada, Israel, Czech Republic, Honduras, Poland, Brazil, Romania, Yemen, Viet Nam, Iran, Morocco, S. Korea, El Salvador Burma and Paraguay.
