Four new American citizens – Veronica Rojas, Javier Martinez, Jessica Campagnola, and Hella Ducheneaux – were honored Sunday afternoon at the American Legion Post 119 in Estes Park.
The celebration was organized by the Estes Park Citizenship Project, with support from the Estes Valley Library, EVICS Family Resource Center, the Estes Park Learning Place, the League of Women Voters of Estes Park, the Estes Nonprofit Network, the American Legion Post 119, and the Estes Park Patriots for Peace. The Citizenship filing fees and scholarships were provided by the Estes Park Quaker Unitarian Universalists and Others group.
The event began with a welcome by Sue Yowell, Executive Director of the Learning Place, followed by remarks from John Minier, the past Post Commander, who led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minier told the new Americans, “Citizenship isn’t a document. It isn’t a verb. It is your responsibility to go out in our community and in our country and make a difference. That’s what true citizenship is about.”
Simpatico, an a cappella quartet with Denise Stookesberry, Miranda Dillard, Steve Tice, and Nelson Burke, sang “The Star Spangled Banner,” “This Land is Your Land,” and the hymn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”
Estes Park Mayor Gary Hall also shared a few remarks welcoming the new citizens, “Now more than ever, it is so important that human beings recognize other human beings across this great planet, not just Colorado, not just the United States, not just the Legion in Estes Park. We have to have that unity, and it has to be the folks who really recognize that humanity heart-to-heart.”
Sue Yowell read quotes from two presidents, the first from John F. Kennedy: “It is very fitting that we celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States by honoring Americans who have come here as immigrants to become citizens.
The greatness of our Constitution comes not so much from the words that it contains. It is great because of the people who have lived and worked under it to add to its framework of words and ideas the work and sacrifice and passionate devotion of many generations of Americans. Men and women came here from every corner of the world, from every nation and every race to live together as parts of one great, unified nation.
Our Constitution is founded on the principle that all men are equal as citizens, and entitled to the same rights, whether they achieved citizenship by birth, or after coming here as immigrants, seeking to find in America new freedom and new opportunities.”
The second quote was from Lyndon B. Johnson: “Our citizens—naturalized or native-born—must also seek to refresh and improve their knowledge of how our government operates under the Constitution and how they can participate in it. Only in this way can they assume the full responsibilities of citizenship and make our government more truly of, by, and for the people.”
One of the organizers of the celebration told the Estes Valley Voice that this year’s event was smaller and lower-key than last year’s, out of an abundance of caution due to the risks of attracting the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After the new citizens were applauded, they were given gift bags from the Town of Estes Park and the Citizenship Project.