Ferris Hosts Naturalization Ceremony
On
Sept. 23, Ferris State hosted a naturalization ceremony during
which the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services granted
citizenship to approximately 450 people.
Ferris President William Sederburg served as master
of ceremonies for the event, which included comments from Congressman
Peter Hoekstra, Ryan Tarrant from the office of Congressman David
Camp, Mary Ann Gay from the office of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow,
Mecosta County Commissioner Wayne O’Neil, Ferris Student
Government President Kaci Baars and others.
In his welcoming statement, President Sederburg noted
that his own family emigrated from Sweden during the 1870s. Congressman
Hoekstra followed up on the theme that the United States is a
country of immigrants.
“On Jan. 28, 1963, I got the same piece of paper
that 450 of you are getting today,” he said. “My parents
emigrated from the Netherlands in 1956. We went through the process
that you are going through. Just remember—after you are
sworn in today, this place that the rest of the world calls ‘America,’
will be the place that you call ‘home.’”
After the Honorable Gordon J. Quist, federal judge
for the Western District of Michigan, administered the oath of
citizenship, Big Rapids’ Rachel Schumann, who opened the
ceremony with “God Bless America,” led the new citizens
in the singing of the National Anthem following the oath.
After then reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, led
by Congressman Hoekstra, about 450 people, formerly of 79 different
countries, patiently lined the aisles of Williams Auditorium to
receive their United States citizenship papers.
