Nation’s newest citizens celebrate on a special day
Hyannis resident Carolina Alcantara knew she would become an American citizen after acing her citizenship test this year but she was surprised to find out the ceremony would take place during a holiday she’d spent weeks studying.
“When the guy told me the ceremony would be next week on July Fourth, I said, ‘ You must be kidding me! That’s a national holiday, that’s one of the questions!’ ” said Alcantara, who was born in Brazil and moved to the United States more than a decade ago.
“He said, ‘ No, that’s a special ceremony and you are in it,’ ” she recalled with a laugh.
Alcantara, 30, was one of more than 500 people from 92 countries who were naturalized as U.S. citizens at a ceremony at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium yesterday. The event was one of 65 naturalization ceremonies nationwide that created nearly 15,000 new citizens, according to federal officials.
“I got real emotional today,” Alcantara said. “I’m so happy to be part of the whole history of this country — it’s such a great country.”
Alcantara became a permanent resident six years ago and said she spent months studying for the citizenship test.
Vittoriano Di Vaio, 24, of Boston said he did his studying at the dinner table with his parents and younger sister — all of whom joined him in being naturalized yesterday. Di Vaio’s family, who originally hail from Italy, decided to stay in the U.S. after Vittoriano and his sister enrolled in school here.
“This was by unanimous consent the place we felt was home to us,” Di Vaio said, adding “It
was an emotional moment for all four of us to go through the process at the same time — not everybody gets that privilege.”
Becoming citizens on the Fourth of July made it even more special, he said.
“We couldn’t have picked a better time than this to become citizens,” he said. “Getting citizenship on the birthday of your country is pretty rad.”