by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
The U.S. population of citizens officially increased Thursday as 50 new citizens were sworn in at the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse.
The courthouse hosts a naturalization ceremony every month. Thursday’s event welcomed people from about 28 countries, and the Philippines had the biggest representation with seven people naturalized in the United States.
Second was Colombia, which saw four of its former citizens pledging allegiance to the United States.
The newest citizens also had the opportunity to meet the newest U.S. magistrate judge in the Jacksonville Division of the Middle District of Florida, Judge Joel Toomey.
“It is my privilege and honor to witness your achievement today,” said Toomey. “The U.S. is made up of people from all over the world, such as yourselves. It matters not where you come from as long as you strive to do your best to make this a country that people want to be a part of.”
Ada Hammond, past president of the Hispanic Bar Association of Northeast Florida and co-chair of The Jacksonville Bar Association’s Naturalization Committee, is a native of Cuba and remembered what it was like to be sitting in the audience waiting to be sworn in.
“I, too, am a naturalized citizen who grew up in America in a Spanish-speaking household,” said Hammond, who came to America when she was 5 years old. “I learned both my family’s culture and the American culture. I think my life is richer having known the two cultures.”
The National Society of the Colonial Dames presents two flags at each ceremony, with one going to the youngest and one to the oldest participant. The youngest was David Malinovskiy, 20, of Belarus, and the senior member of the group was Amelia Magat, 68, of the Philippines.
Though he is a student attending Florida State College at Jacksonville, Malinovskiy admitted that studying for the exam was the toughest part of the naturalization process.
The ceremony also was witnessed by fifth-graders from Riverside Presbyterian Day School as part of their social studies class. The Federal Courts educational program is called “Open Doors to Federal Courts” and it can be used by public and private schools.
The next naturalization ceremony scheduled at the federal courthouse is Nov. 18 with U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Morales Howard presiding.
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