Klein, O'Connor speak at inaugural Citizenship Counts ceremony
JOSH SAYLES
Staff Writer
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, right, reaches out to Holocaust Survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein, second from left, as Klein receives a standing ovation for her speech. Back row, from left, Lee Holston, USCIS supervisory adjudications officer and event emcee, student essay contest winner Jonah Garcia and State of Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne look on.
Photo by Manya Paul
More than 400 people welcomed 50 new U.S. citizens from 26 countries during a March 23 naturalization ceremony at the Phoenix Convention Center. The event marked the completion of the pilot program of Citizenship Counts, a nonprofit founded by Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein intended to educate middle school students on citizenship and civic responsibility.
Both Klein and retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the featured speaker, among other Arizona immigration and education leaders, addressed the crowd.
"I love this country with only the love of someone who (had) been homeless and hungry for so long," said Klein, an immigrant from Poland, fighting back tears toward the end of her speech. "For those (who have citizenship as) your birthright, I hope you can understand what this means to these 50 people. I remember my own moment of citizenship. I remember I had this understanding that I had my own home and country again ... that if I had any difficulty I could go to the American Embassy."
"(Gerda) has delivered speeches for 50-plus years and (Monday) was the first time I have ever seen her nervous," said Alysa Ullman, Klein's granddaughter, who has traveled with her to every speaking engagement for the last three years and is the president of Citizenship Counts. "I think she was nervous because this program means so much to her."
Klein and Ullman recently returned from Washington, D.C., where Klein was presented the Immigrant Achievement Award, a lifetime achievement award for immigrants, by the American Immigration Law Foundation on March 20.
O'Connor addressed the uniqueness of the United States government and Constitution before turning her attention to the new Americans.
"We really do welcome you," she said. "And actions such as yours - becoming citizens - is exactly how this nation was formed, how it was shaped."
"I've been (in the United States) 10 years now, and now you get rights, you feel like you belong," new citizen and Cyprus native Pete Anastasiou told Jewish News after the ceremony. "It was amazing. I almost cried."
In attendance and also involved in the planning of the ceremony and the subsequent reception at the Herberger Theater were 100 seventh- and eighth-graders from Villa Montessori School in Phoenix and Mission Montessori Academy in Scottsdale, both of which served as the pilot schools for the curriculum.
Klein's desire to create Citizenship Counts was sparked when she was asked to speak at a naturalization ceremony four years ago at Three Rivers Middle School in Cleves, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. Teacher Marnie Murphy has organized similar celebrations at the school every three years since the mid-1980s. She was in attendance on March 23.
"I'm just pleased that Gerda and Justice O'Connor have chosen to have the ceremonies (in public) as opposed to in a courtroom," Murphy told Jewish News during the reception. "You can't teach citizenship. You have to feel it. There hasn't been a naturalization ceremony I've been to where I haven't felt proud to be an American."
Ullman acknowledged the importance of providing new citizens with some sort of reception or party after the fact. She said that the day was equivalent to that of a wedding, baptism or bar mitzvah and that the participants deserved a celebration.
Ullman became involved in Citizenship Counts when Klein returned from Three Rivers Middle School and explained the ceremony to both her and Rita Schaefer, former president of McDougal Littell, a publishing company now known as Holt McDougal. Schaefer eventually hired Ullman to research and write the Citizenship Counts curriculum, titled "The Path to Citizenship," which was completed in February 2008.
"('The Path to Citizenship') gives a brief history of immigration in this country, but the focus really is on citizenship," said Ullman. "What are the rights and responsibilities of the citizen? ... It also educates (children) about the process. ... This is not something where you just go and show up and become a citizen. It takes months and oftentimes years.
"The second portion of the curriculum was inspired by Marnie Murphy, and that is doing essentially what she did, which is working with the students to create and host a naturalization ceremony to essentially serve as a welcome vehicle."
Citizenship Counts hopes to spread nationwide by 2020, according to Ullman. She said the organization is looking to launch pilot programs in a number of cities next school year, including San Diego, Miami, Chicago and Washington, D.C., although no locations have been officially announced.
The organization intends to provide curriculum-related training programs to retired teachers and other volunteers over the summer in designated pilot cities in order to offer local support to schools that wish to implement the program, Ullman said.
