Ana-Lucia-Quizhpi, one of two recipients of the Matthew and Hannah Keator Family Scholarship for New Americans

Two recipients of LitNet’s Keator Family Scholarship for New Americans program become U.S. citizens

The journey to citizenship is never easy, but Urrea’s and Quizhpi’s journeys were especially challenging considering the extra hurdles presented by CoVid-19.

Two recipients of the Literacy Network of South Berkshires’ (LitNet) Matthew and Hannah Keator Family Scholarship for New Americans, Marcela Urrea (who goes by Leidy) and Ana Lucia Quizhpi, recently became U.S. citizens. Applicants for the Matthew and Hannah Keator Family Scholarship for New Americans are able to seek financial support in obtaining legal services during the screening and application process, as well as direct support to defray the cost of the federal naturalization application. The journey to citizenship is never easy, but Urrea’s and Quizhpi’s journeys were especially challenging considering the extra hurdles presented by CoVid-19. Both women cite broad networks of support and those willing to work with them in unconventional ways as crucial on their paths to citizenship.

When Urrea, arrived in Pittsfield five years ago, she had left behind a job in commercial management for a large company. She had traded the buzz of Botogá, Colombia, for what she calls her “quiet life” in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She was pregnant with her second son, and had moved to join her husband, who is also from Colombia and was already a naturalized U.S. citizen. She was experiencing her first New England winter, feeling isolated and far from her family, and struggling with a new language.

“Sometimes I wondered if I made the right decision,” she told me in a recent interview.

Marcela Urrea with her S. citizenship certificate.

Fast forward five years, and Urrea’s life looks very different. She holds two jobs: one at Community Health Programs, working in family services, mostly with Spanish-speaking families and their children, ages 2-4, helping them prepare for school. She also works in patient services at Volunteers in Medicine in Great Barrington, helping with social determination.

“It’s very different,” she said, comparing her new life with her previous one in Bogota. “I like working with people.” It’s different than the corporate work she used to do, and she feels like she is helping people with significant life endeavors. Most of all, she enjoys working with members from the Latin community and immigrants in general—likely because she understands the significance of having access to such support.

On October 7th, in a swearing-in ceremony held at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services center in Lawrence, Urrea added a new title to her growing list: U.S. citizen. As a citizen, Urrea has a list of goals: foremost, she can now vote in elections, which is “like gold,” she said. It will be easier to apply for financial assistance, such as with healthcare, and she will also now hold a U.S. passport, making travel to Colombia and other countries easier. She can also now apply for other jobs that require U.S. citizenship. “I can build a career here,” she said.

The process to citizenship was long and complex, and she had the support of many along the way. Urrea spent two years in the adult learning program at Berkshire Community College. During that time, she had a tutor whom she met with regularly, who “is like a sister” and who helped her make connections in the community. When she was preparing for the citizenship test, she was connected with the Berkshire Immigrant Center, which helped her with every step along the way.

When she received the invitation to interview for citizenship, she contacted LitNet and was connected with tutor Claudia Coplan. Urrea referred to the last several months as “the crazy time” because of CoVid-19. She was only able to receive tutoring help over the phone. For an hour a week, for several weeks, Coplan asked Urrea practice questions that helped her prepare for the situation and assisted her with pronunciation. Coplan, who had the 100 questions those seeking citizenship need to be prepared to answer, claims that Urrea had already studied quite a bit, but helped her with tricks for remembering answers that require rote memorization. For example, there are 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution—both Coplan’s and Urrea’s birthdays fall on the 27th of the month, which helped Urrea remember the correct number.

Urrea has come to appreciate her new life and the quietness of her adopted small city: “I love this life, I love the Berkshires, the environment, the forest. Now I like the quiet life. It’s a quiet life for me and my son.”

Quizhpi, who is originally from Ecuador, also cites the support of many throughout her journey to citizenship. She also worked with a tutor from Berkshire Immigrant Center via telephone, practicing questions for an hour or 30 minutes each week for several weeks. She said practicing via phone was difficult and “complicated for me,” because she still struggles with English. But “little by little,” the facts “start going into your mind.”

Quizhpi had worked on her English with Claudia Coplan as well, and LitNet tutor Josh Beardsley helped her briefly just before she took the test. But, Coplan claims, Quizhpi did the work largely on her own.

Quizhpi, who works at Berkshire School in Sheffield, was sworn in October 6, also in Lawrence. “Thank you to everyone who helped me,” Quizhpi said when asked if she had any final words about her experience. “That’s the only thing, thank you. I’m very happy.”

Both women claim that being U.S. citizens will open new doors of possibility for their future lives in the United States, and, most importantly, will make it easier to stay connected to their families and home communities in South America.

LitNet, like the rest of the world, has faced new barriers in the face of the CoVid-19 pandemic. Yet tutors have found work-arounds to their normal method of face-to-face tutoring working via phone, zoom, and email to stay connected with learners.