As part of Values Day 2022 on campus Oct. 18, Stetson University held its Citizenship and Naturalization Ceremony, an event that was first organized at Stetson in 1997 by the late Professor Emeritus T. Wayne Bailey, PhD.

Back in 2015, Bailey made this comment: “It’s probably the most moving experience that any celebration of Stetson brings forth. You look into their eyes, and you see how much joy and pride they feel in taking this oath to become new citizens.”

The same could be said on this day, seven years later, at Lee Chapel in Elizabeth Hall. 

There, 39 immigrants from 28 countries took their long-awaited Oath of Allegiance in front of friends and family, along with Stetson students, faculty and staff, in a picturesque, historic chapel that was literally filled to the rafters. 

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Roy Bale Dalton Jr. presided — court was officially in session with cooperation from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the country’s naturalization and immigration system. 

During fiscal-year 2021, USCIS welcomed 809,100 new citizens in such ceremonies across the United States and throughout the world. In this instance, Stetson had the opportunity to be part of the 2022 process.

In addition, there was the chance to reinforce the university’s values, according to Kevin Winchell, director of Community Engagement and co-chair of the Values Day Planning Committee.

“We not only have an academic mission at Stetson, but we also have a civic mission,” Winchell commented before the event. “Values Day is intended to combine our academic and civic missions — to interrogate our values, figure out our commitments to them, then turn those promises into practice.”   

At the podium, Stetson President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, applauded the new citizens and talked about their journey. 

“I think it’s a bit like a graduation, and I can see that the journey our students take and the journey you are taking are in some ways very similar,” Roellke said. “Like you, our students arrive with great enthusiasm and a lot of dreams, and then they work hard, very hard, and make their way, step by step, through their education. They grow. They adapt. They change, just as you have changed through this process of U.S. citizenship.”

Stetson’s own Hari Pulapaka, PhD, associate professor of mathematics, began that journey 35 years ago, traveling some 9,000 miles from his native India at the age of 21. In December 2020, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and earlier this year he voted as an American for the first time. 

Pulapaka, a featured speaker, spoke to his fellow new citizens with pride and encouragement. “Today is a culmination of your will and your sacrifice, while serving as a testament to the greatness of this country,” he said. 

In a recorded message, President Joe Biden called being a “U.S. citizen” the title that makes him most proud, and he offered praise: “Always remember that your strength is what makes America stronger. Your talent is what makes America skilled. And your heart is what makes America kind.” 

Finally, as their names were read, the 39 honorees walked across the Lee Chapel stage. That moment, happening on campus during Stetson’s Values Day, represented a journey completed and a new road ahead.

-Michael Candelaria