citizenship class

Celebrating our new citizens

Celebrating Citizenship Student Success at Mission Adelante 

by Veronica Garcia, ESL Manager


Leading the Citizenship program at Mission Adelante is extremely rewarding. Each Tuesday I see students walk in that are ready to learn and accomplish something incredible. At Mission Adelante’s Citizenship program, students are learning civics, history, and practicing their English with the volunteers. If you don’t already know, to become a naturalized citizen, you have to be a permanent resident for at least 5 years. Once you start the naturalization application process, you have to learn 100 civics questions. One hundred civics questions about the history of a different country AND in your second language? That sounds difficult- and it is. A lot of the volunteers admit they don’t even know the answers to the questions when they first begin with us. 

Despite all this difficulty, I want to proudly share that we have had 4 people this year pass their Citizenship exam and interview. 

Nancy, Juan, and Elvira are students that have been attending regularly the last few trimesters. I met Nancy when I first started at Mission Adelante last August, Juan began attending classes in January, and Elvira began attending classes at the end of May. The dedication and perseverance these students showed every week was amazing to watch. They became more confident in their English and developed beautiful friendships with their teachers.

Elvira and her document saying that she passed!

Nancy passed her exam on June 1st! This is her at her ceremony.

Juan celebrating with his family

Juan and Elvira passed on the same day, October 25th. There was a lot of celebrating in the volunteer group chat that day!

Another person I helped personally is named Conchita. She needed help practicing for the English portion of the naturalization interview. I met with her weekly to go over her application and practice what to say to the USCIS officer when they interview her. She passed the English portion on September 26! 

Let’s celebrate together the amazing success of these four individuals and what they accomplished in 2023. Please keep the other students in the citizenship program in your prayers. They are all working very hard. I am so honored to be a part of this program! 

Celebrando el Éxito de los Estudiantes de Ciudadanía en Mission Adelante

Liderar el programa de Ciudadanía en Mission Adelante es sumamente gratificante. Cada martes veo a estudiantes que están listos para aprender y lograr algo increíble. En el programa de Ciudadanía de Mission Adelante, los estudiantes están aprendiendo civismo, historia y practicando su inglés con los voluntarios. Si aún no lo sabes, para convertirse en ciudadano naturalizado, deben ser residentes permanentes durante al menos 5 años. Una vez que inician el proceso de solicitud de naturalización, deben aprender 100 preguntas de civismo. Cien preguntas de civismo sobre la historia de otro país y en su segundo idioma. Eso suena difícil, y lo es. Muchos de los voluntarios admiten que ni siquiera conocen las respuestas a las preguntas cuando comienzan con nosotros.

A pesar de todas estas dificultades, quiero compartir con orgullo que este año hemos tenido a 4 personas que aprobaron su examen y entrevista de Ciudadanía.

Nancy, Juan y Elvira son estudiantes que han estado asistiendo regularmente durante los últimos trimestres. Conocí a Nancy cuando comencé en Mission Adelante en agosto pasado, Juan comenzó a asistir a clases en enero, y Elvira comenzó a asistir a clases a finales de mayo. La dedicación y perseverancia que mostraron estos estudiantes cada semana fue increíble de ver. Se volvieron más seguros en su inglés y desarrollaron hermosas amistades con sus profesores.

Nancy aprobó su examen el 1 de junio, Juan y Elvira aprobaron el mismo día, el 25 de octubre. ¡Hubo mucha celebración en el grupo de voluntarios ese día!

Otra persona a la que ayudé personalmente se llama Conchita. Necesitaba ayuda practicando la parte en inglés de la entrevista de naturalización. Me reuní con ella semanalmente para repasar su solicitud y practicar lo que debía decir al oficial del USCIS cuando la entrevistaron. ¡Aprobó la parte en inglés el 26 de septiembre!

Celebremos juntos el increíble éxito de estas cuatro personas y lo que lograron en el 2023. Por favor, mantengan en sus oraciones a los demás estudiantes del programa de ciudadanía. Todos están trabajando muy duro. ¡Es un honor para mí ser parte de este programa!

Be part of our programs!

 We are so excited to start our fall programs and we are grateful for all our volunteers who make everything possible. Would you consider partnering with us next trimester?

How can you help?

  • Pray for our program participants would create an impact in our community and grow with their walk with the Lord.

  • Volunteer – Come to our volunteer Orientation. For more information visit: http://www.missionadelante.org/serve

  • Donate to join us in building a multicultural community of disciples making disciples.

We were on TV...

A Summer of Citizenship at Mission Adelante! 

by Veronica Garcia, ESL Manager


It’s been an exciting summer for the citizenship class here at Mission Adelante this summer.
Since the spring trimester didn’t bring as many new students as I hoped, I needed to make sure I got the word out sooner about the citizenship class this summer. I took flyers to immigration offices, stores, and posted flyers in different places on facebook, but none of the posts really took off…until one did!

I was just posting in groups as I routinely do before the beginning of each trimester and I decided to try it out in a local latina women’s group on facebook. When I logged on a few hours later after I had posted it, I was so surprised to see people interacting with the post and asking for more information. I had probably messaged 10 people that night. And the calls/texts began the flow in…people were saying they saw my post on facebook.

About a week before the citizenship launch, a LOT of people began calling Gissell. We were like, “This is really all from the facebook post?” Well…Another person interested in the class had called her and said they saw the information on TV. What?? Apparently Univision had picked it up and displayed the flyer on the local news. That was crazy!

(screenshot from Univision on facebook)

I began stressing from not having enough students to what if we have too many? We only have spots for 24 students in our beginner class. With the amount of calls Gissell and I were receiving, I was worried we would have to turn people away. Well, launch night came on May 30… and to my surprise and ease we had 16 new students register for the class! The following week we had 5 more come, so that’s a whopping 21 new registrations for our citizenship class. God is good. We had 20 in the beginners class and 8 returning students in our intermediate class. One of our returning students, Nancy, had recently passed her exam and interview about a month ago. I am so thankful for the volunteers that poured into her and helped her achieve citizenship. I’ve been feeling super happy and excited about what we are accomplishing in our citizenship program. 

Please pray for the citizenship program at Mission Adelante, that we can continue to receive more students and that we can effectively help these people apply and receive United States citizenship. It’s been so much fun learning about immigration law and helping people from different walks of life working towards the goal of American citizenship. I’m praying that the fall trimester will bring more students and volunteers so the program can continue to grow! 

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES?

VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION

Join our team of volunteers for the fall trimester and be part of "loving people from all places." Attend our volunteer orientation on Saturday, September 9th and find your place serving kids, youth, or adults in the immigrant community in KCK

For more information about volunteer opportunities visit www.missionadelante.org/orientation

Be part of our programs!

 We are so excited to start our fall programs and we are grateful for all our volunteers who make everything possible. Would you consider partnering with us this trimester?

How can you help?

  • Pray for our program participants would create an impact in our community and grow with their walk with the Lord.

  • Volunteer – Come to our volunteer Orientation. For more information visit: http://www.missionadelante.org/serve

  • Donate to join us in building a multicultural community of disciples making disciples.

First of all, how about them Chiefs? 

My First Trimester Reflections and Celebrations! 

by Veronica Garcia, Refugee Services Manager

My first trimester on staff at Mission Adelante flew by. I cannot believe it is over already. I am so thankful for the opportunity to create a program where students can come to learn English and practice with the volunteers. I want to personally thank the volunteers that have contributed their time and creativity to this inaugural trimester of Refugee ESL: Mary, Lindsay, Jill, Larry, Amy, Laura, and Morgan. The students came back each week for you! Thank you. 

From October until the end of November, we had 8 lessons that focused on practical English. Each lesson, we had multiple components: reading, writing, movement, and active conversation. I wanted to make sure to emphasize all of these components because of the different language backgrounds we had in the class. 

We only had a few students this trimester, but boy, was it a lot of fun! Having this first trimester with a small class really allowed all of the students and volunteers to really get to know each other on a deeper level. 

As for Citizenship, we had a great trimester as well. We were getting calls of interest almost every week. I am confident we will have a lot of new students and returning students in January. 

On a super exciting note, I want to congratulate Marcela for passing her Citizenship test! She had been working with one of the volunteers, Laura, one-on-one the past few weeks to really prepare for her test and interview. 

We had some rockstar volunteers for Citizenship: Karen, Morgan, Jim, Debbie, Emma, Geraldina, Mary, Laura, Elliot, and Rachel in our beginners class; and Dean and Carlie leading our intermediate group! This group of volunteers are motivated and committed to helping students accomplish their goals of becoming a citizen.

At Mission Adelante this season, our theme is to celebrate. I am celebrating that my transition onto staff was smooth and even smoother with the volunteers. Everyone has been so welcoming and kind as I learned the ropes of running programs. I am celebrating that while Refugee ESL was small, it was successful. The students have emphasized that this class has really helped them gain confidence in speaking English and they are excited to return in January! I am celebrating that Marcela passed her Citizenship test! Thank you for celebrating with me. The ESL department has a lot planned for 2023, so stay tuned. I am looking forward to what the new year will bring and what else we can accomplish together.