District 214 program has helped 11,500 people attain citizenship
Nic Mazza had a passion for computer science but a dearth of jobs in the field in his native Argentina led him to immigrate to the United States. After moving to the Chicago suburbs, establishing an IT career and beginning a family, Mazza decided to become a U.S. citizen.
To achieve this goal, he turned to the citizenship program in Northwest Suburban High School District 214's Community Education department.
Since its inception in 1994, the citizenship program has helped more than 11,500 individuals across the Chicago suburbs become naturalized. Through free English language classes, citizenship test preparation and other citizenship services, immigrants like Mazza receive the guidance they need to make it through the difficult road to citizenship.
Classes of between 25 and 50 students are taught lessons in United States history, government, geography, writing and reading. Additionally, instructors teach students the importance of small talk and body language by emphasizing certain cultural norms like how to make good eye contact and when to smile during the citizenship interview. Citizenship services include: assistance filling out citizenship applications and conducting practice interviews for a nominal fee.
The pass rate for students in the program is more than 99 percent.
Program coordinator Ewa Crowe hopes that these services help make the journey less daunting. The shelves in her office filled with thank you cards from grateful students are evidence of this.
"The process of becoming a U.S. citizen is often long and arduous, and also rather expensive. I help people everyday who share our values and are studying to become fully participating citizens of the United States of America," Crowe said.
For Mazza, Crowe's mentorship helped him achieve his goal. In March 2017, he took the oath of citizenship as his wife and two children looked on.
Mazza's journey to citizenship was far from easy. He arrived in this country with only one suitcase and no place to stay. Thanks to the generosity of good friends and the availability of community college courses, he kept striving toward a technology career while working a series of odd jobs along the way. For Mazza, becoming a citizen was the culmination of the years of hard work that led him to his dream job and home here in America.
"I am proud to have reached this milestone in my life to finally be able to call myself an American," said Mazza, who is a technology services supervisor for Northwest Suburban High School District 214. "It was a long journey to get to this point, but I am very grateful for the opportunities here and now be able to participate in its democracy."
To inquire about the citizenship services available at Community Education and to make an appointment for N-400/N-600 application assistance, contact Crowe at (847) 718-7730 or ewa.crowe@d214.org.
Some of the citizenship classes are offered at the Forest View Educational Center, 2121 S. Goebbert Road, Arlington Heights. There are morning, evening and weekend classes available. For the list of classes, go to ce.d214.org/adult-classes/citizenship-services.