On Friday, December 11th, St. John the Baptist School hosted its first Naturalization Ceremony in the Parish Center. After careful planning and observing of other area schools, it was decided that St. John's would embark on this mission and make it come to fruition. Needless to say the ceremony was a huge success as over seventy immigrants representing over thirty countries came to see their dream of becoming a legal citizen of the United States be realized. Each applicant took an oath of loyalty to the United States and were sworn in by a Federal Judge.
The students of St. John's participated by welcoming the candidates and their families along with decorating the Parish Center, parking, signs, and taking part in the actual ceremony as demonstrated by the third and fourth grades who sang beautiful renditions of the National Anthem and My Country Tis of Thee. The junior high also attended the ceremony so as to see and share in the end to a long journey for these new citizens who went through the process of naturalization and became new citizens of the United States of America.
Special thanks to our faculty/staff Mr. Acito, Mrs. Green, Ms. Duell, and Mr. Cunningham as well as PTO volunteers Beth Hassel, Jamie Christensen, Kelly Schaefer, Jen Watkins, Kathy Geers, Neal Bedwell and all those who donated food/drinks, Alan Keil and the Boy Scouts, and Bob Threm.