The judge presiding over the swearing-in of new U.S. citizens told his own immigrant story.
Immigrants being sworn in as new U.S. citizens during a Fourth of July ceremony at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge.
STURBRIDGE – New U.S. citizen Jacqueline Wawera hopes to pay her new country back by joining the Air Force as a nurse.
She was among the 95 immigrants from 44 different countries who took the Oath of Allegiance while being sworn in as new U.S. citizens during a ceremony Thursday at Old Sturbridge Village.
“I’m very happy. I’m going to be able to serve the country that I love,” the 32-year-old Springfield resident said just before the special Fourth of July swearing-in. “I’m going to be able to vote and join the military.”
Wawera came here in 2006 from Kenya, where she had worked as a photographer. She came here for the chance to work and get an education and is enrolled in Springfield College’s registered nursing program.
Jacqueline Wawera of Springfield As for joining the military, she said, “It (the U.S.) has helped me achieve all my dreams, so why not give a little back?”
Forty-four-year-old Donna T. Patterson, who comes from Jamaica, was similarly excited about becoming a U.S. citizen.
“This is like getting married,” said Patterson, who is married. “This is my second marriage, to America. That is how it feels to me.”
One of her first acts as a new American will be to get a passport to travel to England, according to Patterson.
Hundreds of people looked on as the new Americans got sworn in under sweltering skies in front of the village’s Meeting House.
The ceremony included music by the Old Sturbridge Village Fife and Drum Corps and a rendition of “America the Beautiful” by the Old Sturbridge Village Singers. The performers were all in Colonial-style dress.
They took an oath to renounce allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty of which they have been a subject or citizen and support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
They also pledged to take up arms on behalf of the country if required by law and to perform noncombatant service in the U.S. armed forces when required by law. The new citizens also promised to “perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by law.”
They swore that they took the oath “freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.”
Henry J. Boroff, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge based in Springfield, welcomed the new citizens.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Henry J. Boroff welcomed newly sworn in U.S. citizens during a ceremony at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge And Boroff had his own immigrant story to tell. He shared the fact that his parents, who spent time in Nazi concentration camps, were originally from Poland.
The judge said the new Americans can now celebrate July 4 as not just the signing of the Declaration of Independence but as the day they became U.S. citizens. He spoke of the patriots who signed and fought for that document.
“We honor them and our country by preserving what they did for us almost 240 years ago by marking July 4 as the birthday of the principles that have guided this nation,” Boroff said.