2007 Naturalization Ceremony at Monticello

Earlier this week, my old UVA compadre, Alexis Ohanian, posted a heartfelt Open Letter to the Reddit Community, discussing the role immigration has played in his own family. It’s a great piece, and I’d encourage you to read it for yourself. (Don’t skip the comments!)

One thing he mentioned was the experience of witnessing people pledging allegiance for the first time as U.S. Citizens. It reminded me of the Independence Day Naturalization Ceremony I documented in 2007 at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. As Alexis alludes, it was a moving experience I’ll never forget.

That summer, we were helping host the Universitas 21 summit at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Virginia. Universitas 21 is a network of leading research institutions from around the globe who (among other things) send student delegates abroad to explore a chosen theme each summer.

In 2004, Alexis took part in the O.G. Singapore session on “Global Technology Entrepreneurship.” In 2005, I took part in the “Sustainable Development of Global Society” summit in Sweden (Hej hej!).

In 2007, our alma mater hosted the summit on “Leadership in a Global Society,” and our stalwart leaders, Professor Mark White and Lavinia Johns, illuminated the Wahoowa Bat Signal to gather us back to help. (Which, to be fair, consisted mostly of eating all the terrible, school-catered food the international students refused to eat.) 🙂

Although the program was packed full of events (and zero sleep) for the entire 2 weeks, Monticello’s naturalization ceremony stands on top as the most memorable for me. Observing it on any other day would have been a special experience, but seeing it on Independence Day, through the eyes of 75 college kids from around the world, made it truly remarkable.

The U.S. often gets lampooned for our overenthusiastic patriotism, as manifested so well in Stephen Fry’s outsider’s look at an Alabama football game. So it was simultaneously fascinating and amusing to watch our international students jump head-first into the celebration, waving flags and banners and singing patriotic songs with gusto, as if they, themselves, were gaining citizenship that afternoon.

It goes without saying that if you have the opportunity to observe a ceremony like this, I’d highly recommend it. Monticello hosts their Independence Day Celebration each year, and has archived many previous years on YouTube. Here’s 2013’s with Dave Matthews. 🙂