ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — The skies were overcast but smiles were beaming Wednesday morning as 30 people took their oaths of U.S. citizenship on the tea lawn at the Jordan Pond House.
The “candidates,” as they are called before taking their oaths, were from 16 countries — some as close as Canada and others as far away as the Philippines. Some have been living in the U.S. for only a few years, while others have lived in Maine for decades.
Many were accompanied by family and friends who held and frequently waved small American flags before, during and after the brief ceremony overlooking Jordan Pond.
One of the new citizens sworn in Wednesday has lived on Mount Desert Island since the early 1980s, formerly as a weekly newspaper marketing director and, more recently, as a restaurateur.
Janet Strong, a Toronto native who owns and runs the Mexican restaurant XYZ in Southwest Harbor with her husband, Bob Hoyt, said a lot of people she has known for a long time have been unaware that she was not a U.S citizen.
“It actually takes quite a bit of time,” Strong said of the application process.
Applicants have to answer a written questionnaire, be interviewed by federal immigration officials — in Portland, for those applicants who live in Maine — and get a background check. Running a restaurant takes a significant time commitment, she said, making it difficult to fit the citizenship process into her schedule.
“It was always something I wanted to get organized to do,” Strong said, adding that being eligible to vote in local, state and federal elections has been the biggest motivation for her to become a citizen.
“I’ve been very involved in the situation in the United States, having lived here and paid taxes,” Strong said. “It’s kind of a good thing to get that one step farther.”
Roy Reed, until Wednesday a British citizen, said for the past 16 years he has been living in Searsport, where he runs a charter boat company and does system development work for Silicon Valley firms. He said he’s been living in the U.S. long enough that it makes sense to become naturalized.
“I’m very excited,” Reed said. “I’m thrilled I’ll now be able to take part in the electoral system. I can hopefully make my vote count.”
Sokhna Aw, an accounting student at the University of Maine, lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, for about four years before she moved to Orono a year ago to be with her husband, Mahmoud Sowe, an admissions counselor at UMaine who was born and raised in the U.S.
Aw, who said she had never visited Acadia before Wednesday, said she decided to pursue citizenship to strengthen her bond with her husband and to avoid any legal issues that possibly could arise. She added that Americans who work hard can have opportunities unavailable in other countries and that she wants to be able to take advantage of them.
But when asked about being able to vote, she indicated she hadn’t really thought about it. After doing so for a few moments, her enthusiasm for the idea appeared to grow.
“I think I’ll go do that,” she said with a smile about becoming a registered voter.
Sally Blauvelt, field officer director for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in Portland, said Wednesday’s ceremony was the second such event held in Acadia. In 2014, there were about a dozen people who took the oath of citizenship on the Jordan Pond House tea lawn, she said.
Blauvelt said such ceremonies are not always held in federal courtrooms. New citizens have been naturalized in Maine at elementary schools, at colleges, and at the Ocean Gateway terminal in Portland, she said.
“We have them all over the place,” Blauvelt said. “It’s kind of a civic engagement exercise at the [elementary] schools.”
Michael Madell, the new deputy superintendent at Acadia, said that naturalization ceremonies have been held at many other National Park Service properties. He said they are fairly common at Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi, where he worked prior to coming to Acadia earlier this year.
He said Acadia officials hope to continue hosting such ceremonies in the park in the coming years.
“It’s a natural fit,” Madell said. “National parks, citizenship, baseball, apple pie — it’s all Americana.”
