NEW CITIZENS S T R AT E G I C G O A L A R E A
ADVANCE
New Citizens Last year, over 756,000 people went through the process to become U.S. citizens. Learn from two Alpha Sigma Alpha sisters about their experience in becoming citizens of the United States of America.
Barbara Wanderley emigrated to the US in 2013 from Brazil. She is a founding member of the Iota Theta Chapter at Columbia College. She recently graduated with a degree in Chemistry. Her biggest passions are music and science and one day she hopes to use both of her passions to take on the world. I recently got American citizenship and many people do not know the process of becoming an American. Citizenship can mean different things. To some people, it might be being born in a country and being part of that community. To people like me, it is much more. I am a naturalized American, which means that I obtained American citizenship by status instead of birth. To millions 28 Phoenix of Alpha Sigma Alpha
of immigrants, obtaining American citizenship is a dream from the moment they decide to leave their home country to chase a better life in the United States. For me, it was not much different.
and everybody will judge me because of it. It happens all the time. Changing my perspective and trying to take advantage of the opportunities being presented to me was what made life better.
My American dream started when I was only seven years old. My mom decided to try living in a different country. At first, she just wanted to work a bit and save some money, but she met my stepdad and the rest is history. But of course, she wanted her family to be complete and wanted me to come to the United States too. For years and years, my mom tried to bring me to the United States and was always denied by immigration. Then, finally, after seven years of applying for residency and being denied, I was granted a resident card (also known as a green card). So, I left my home country at fifteen and my whole life behind to start from zero in America. When I arrived on American soil all I wanted to do was cry; for years that was my dream and I was finally here. Even though I did not speak English at the time, I still remember the officer handing back my passport and saying, “Have a great life.”
“Citizenship can mean different things. To some people, it might be being born in a country and being part of that community. To people like me, it is much more.”
It was not that great at first. What a lot of Americans do not know about being an immigrant is that living in the United States is a learning process. I grew up doing things differently. I had to go from knowing everyone at my school to knowing absolutely nobody and speaking horrible English. On my first day of high school, I cried almost all day because I was so lost. As I learned English and started making a few friends things started to get a little better, but I always felt like I didn’t belong and that I was never going to fit in. I went through three years of high school in the United States feeling like I did not belong in this country. My journey was to learn to accept that I would never be like the American kids and that I would always be a foreign kid. Even though I speak English, I will most likely always have an accent
In college, everything changed. I decided that I was going to get out of my comfort zone and try different things. I got involved in student government, choir, science clubs, leadership clubs and finally, Alpha Sigma Alpha. All these different experiences shaped the person I am today and how I view myself as a new American. Obtaining citizenship is just a small part of truly feeling like an American and I am still learning what it means to me.
Victoria Schroeder was born in Cordoba, Argentina. She came to the United States with her parents when she was fourteen years old. From a young age, Victoria has always wanted to help... in any capacity.
