On Friday, August 19th, Green Cove Springs Junior High, in partnership with the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), hosted a naturalization ceremony in the school’s cafetorium. The ceremony welcomed 47 individuals from 32 countries as new U.S. citizens. Approximately 50 student leaders assisted with the naturalization ceremony and over 100 students and faculty members witnessed the process as audience members as the new citizens took the Oath of Allegiance. The Honorable Marcia Morales Howard, United States District Judge, and first-generation American administered the Oath.
Members from the Green Cove Springs Junior Treble Choir, under the direction of Tina Larsen, sang the National Anthem while members of Clay High School’s ROTC Color Guard presented the colors. Superintendent David Broskie shared a personal experience of his family’s immigration experience from Ireland in the early 1900s. Licet Gomez, a seventh-grade Science teacher at Green Cove Springs Junior, spoke passionately about her journey to American citizenship when she immigrated to the United States from Cuba.
This ceremony honored and recognized our newest U.S. Citizens and provided a real-world learning experience of welcoming immigrants into the country for our junior high students. Green Cove Springs Junior has plans to hopefully make this a yearly celebration and learning experience for their students.
Original source can be found here.
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