A class of 18 adults study civics, history, government and English each week at an Orange County library in hopes of acing a test each Sunday and in preparation for their naturalization test.
Masaji Terasawa proudly introduces himself as the “Candyman,” a nickname earned because he wows thousands of Epcot visitors with his rare Japanese candy art.
But soon he’s hoping to add United States citizen to his résumé.
Terasawa spent several hours Sunday at the Orange County Library’s South Creek Branch studying U.S. civics and history and also shoring up his English as he prepares for his naturalization test.
“I’ve been living [here] a long time,” said the 69-year-old green card holder. “It’s more like an international world. If possible, I’d like to be [an] international citizen.”
Each year, about 700,000 become American citizens through the naturalization process, which requires applicants to have held green cards for at least five years, or three years if they’re married to an American citizen.
In Orange County, adults with a library card are able to take the free Citizenship Inspired course at local library branches, which allows prospective citizens a three to four per week studying session in preparation for the test.
As part of the immigration process, applicants are interviewed by an officer and also must pass English and civics tests. In September 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported about 91 percent of test takers pass it.
Sunday marked the second week of the course at the South Creek Branch off U.S. Highway 441, and the class of a dozen focused on reading and writing as well as trivia questions about the Declaration of Independence, Congress and state and national political leaders.
Orange County librarian Reshard Ausserlechner, who instructs the course at the branch, gently encouraged Terasawa, who moved to the United States from Japan in 1971, as he penned “Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves during the Civil War” on a whiteboard.
After correcting a few spelling errors, he said Terasawa did a good job understanding the sentence and reading it aloud.
“The biggest challenge is obviously the language barrier,” Ausserlechner said. “If your language skills aren’t very good, you may not do well on the exam.”
While an exact number wasn’t immediately available, Ausserlechner said the library has “helped thousands of our local customers become citizens.”
Vivi Valencia-Serrano, a librarian who previously taught the citizenship course, said the
classes offered throughout the county’s 17 branches usually range from people new to the country to others who have for decades.
Andrey Verbitskiy, who is a park-and-ride shuttle driver near Orlando International Airport, said he moved to the United States from Russia to give his children a better future.
After living here for several years, he said his oldest now has a master’s degree, his son won an Emmy for sound work on a Discovery Channel documentary and his youngest is a UCF student.
Now it’s time for him to try to become a citizen and is hopeful his work pays off.
“I’m nervous,” said Verbitskiy, 62. “I continue to study [and] I’m trying to work on my writing.”
For Julio Linan, passing the test means he could reach his goal of becoming a history teacher. In Sunday’s class, the 60-year-old from Peru deftly explained the importance of the Civil War not dividing the country to Terasawa in a way he understood.
However, the Walt Disney World restaurant worker said he’s still learning new things each week.
“All the time you’re a little scared even if you’re a good student or a little slow,” Linan said. “But we’re all excited.”