Becoming a US Citizen: A How-To-Guide

Cinthia Villarreal

For the last 17 years, the Huntsville Public Library and the LEAP Center have come together to host a free citizenship preparatory course where Professor Yawn, Yajaira Gutierrez (Intern at the Huntsville Public Library and supervised by Mary Kokot), and LEAP students volunteer their time to help local immigrants prepare for their naturalization process.

For the month of April, we held weekly classes with more than two dozen participants, who immigrated from a variety of countries including places as far flung as Canada, El Salvador, Japan, and Mexico.

In the first class of the course, Professor Yawn offered an overview of the requirements for eligibility and the process of applying for citizenship, such as the oral interview, where applicants are quizzed about their American history knowledge as well as their ability to speak English.

The course is designed to provide an overview of the different components of naturalization, from paperwork, to oral interviews, to English tests for speaking and writing, and, of course, the “Civics” portion of the test. This component consists of 100 questions that the immigrants must know.

Each week, we alternate between short lectures by Professor Yawn to breakout sessions at each table, with the volunteers doing a mix of tutoring, reinforcing, and translating–or, in Chrissy and Olivia’s cases, nodding when others translate.

LEAP also leans heavily on its mission of civic engagement and community collaboration to bring in other groups with similar goals. Thus, we work closely with Michelle Spencer and Salvador Favela from the Boys and Girls Club for recruitment and volunteers; the Daughters of the American Revolution provide “swag bags” with patriotic study materials…

…and Robert Cates, a local immigration attorney, provides his expertise on immigration law.

For the last week of the course, we held our very own Thanksgiving, where the participants were encouraged to bring desserts while Stephanie provided her very famous, and delicious, hot dogs. In many ways, this last meal together captures the essence of the course. One component of the Civics Exam is US Holidays, and the first one we discuss in the course is Thanksgiving and what that represents in the United States. Accordingly, “our” Thanksgiving is our true way of saying thanks to each other while reinforcing some of the class material.

Gregoria McGuire, who works for the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, even brought flowers as an expression of gratitude.

Esperanza, a participant from last year’s course, was also there. She applied for her citizenship shortly after finishing our course and within a few months, her identification card came in the mail. She attended the meeting to encourage other participants and to show them that if they put their mind to it, they can do it too.

Esperanza was accompanied by her son and daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter, Ali.

This course has been a transformative learning experience, not only for the future applicants but for the volunteers as well. Being an immigrant myself, this volunteerism has hit very close to home. Seeing the resilience of the participants that work for a better future has inspired me and reminded me of the hardships that my family had to go through for me to be where I am today.

This course has been a great testament to what a privilege it is to be a United States Citizen. This label, which many take for granted, not only comes with responsibilities and duties, but grants tranquility, confidence, and freedom.