The excited seven-year-old was with her father, Zekarias Welday, at the Children's Museum of Denver — along with nearly fifty other kids — for the swearing-in ceremony, which saw youths from more than fifteen countries become citizens through their birth or adoptive parents.
The museum has partnered with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to hold events such as this one — the second in two years — as a way to bring children and families together. This year, 48 children, from Afghanistan, Angola, Cameroon, China, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Qatar, Syria, Thailand and Ukraine, took part in the ceremony, according to officials.
The new generation of Americans sat between parents and siblings, who looked on proudly as they accepted their paperwork and recited the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to make it official. They promised to "support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic," as well as to "bear true faith and allegiance" and "bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law." Children as young as three were granted citizenship.
Zekarias Welday explained to Westword how having U.S. citizenship for his daughter meant that his family can now travel together back to Angola and see their relatives. "She'll be able to travel back to her country," said Zekarias, who has been living in the U.S. for three years. "She'll have her documentation to go to school, and she'll be like the other children at her school. So it's very important."
"We've become part of America," Yara said. "We're very happy. We can travel, we can vote."
Although her parents still struggle with English, Yara spoke with enthusiasm in her second language about what her citizenship means to her. What she looks forward to the most now that she's a citizen is "being able to vote," though she'll still have to wait a few years before she can cast a ballot.
Tetiana Kurylenko, a Ukraine native, watched her two boys — Tymofii and Erik — become U.S. citizens six years after their family moved from the Eastern European country. "It's very important to us, especially with the situation in Ukraine right now," Kurylenko said, citing the ongoing war in her home country. "It's so important to us that we can live in the United States and we're protected by law."
Mike Yankovich, the CEO and president of the Children's Museum, described how hosting the ceremony was a "natural opportunity" for the Mile High City and Marisco Campus to showcase its ability to bring people together.
"We see ourselves as a convener of children and families," Yankovich said.
Last year's ceremony may have been larger — with sixty children from 29 different countries becoming citizens — but this event went "great" nonetheless, Yankovich added.
"All the countries that were represented, in addition to that pride that the parents had, was really inspiring," he said. "We were a little worried about the weather, but it seems that right before the event, the weather cleared, a rainbow came out, and we were able to celebrate."
