Fifth-Graders Celebrate “The Big Melting Pot”

June 12, 2013 - PRLog -- In ten years, the San Antonio chapter of Celebrate America has worked to encourage students to contribute to the national dialogue on immigration.  On May 30, the writing program (sponsored by the American Immigration Council, and facilitated locally by the law firm De Mott, McChesney, Curtright & Armendariz) allowed six students the opportunity to witness the impact of immigration.

Invited by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo, the fifth-graders, representing the best submissions from public and private schools across the city, presented their winning entries before an audience of new citizens, at a naturalization ceremony taking place at Laurie Auditorium.

“My parents went through that same ceremony when they came to the United States,” says Enrique Martin, father of winning student Kiki Martin, “so to have my son there to recount that experience, and how it has contributed to our success and his own, was moving beyond words.”

Martin (a student at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School) placed second in the private school category; Madeline Navejar and Peyton Martin (above), who attend Holy Name Catholic School, placed third and first, respectively.  Among public school students, Promise Pitman, from Wilshire Elementary School, placed first for her entry, “The Big Melting Pot,” followed by Hannah Dowling, of Northern Hills Elementary, and Riley Smith, of Huebner Elementary.

Lupita Barrera, Director of Education and Interpretation at the Institute of Texan Cultures, served as a judge for the 2012-2013 school year, and is grateful for the opportunity to participate in Celebrate America. “It’s so good to see programs such as this one take an active interest in our youth,” she says. “We look forward to working more with the program and the students.”

Looking back on his ten years as part of Celebrate America, Joseph B. De Mott, the founding partner of De Mott, McChesney, Curtright & Armendariz, says, “In our early years of facilitating the program, our winners would read their essays at Market Square [in downtown San Antonio]; now, they're onstage before hundreds of new citizens.  I'm proud of how much this program has grown, and more than that, I'm proud to see so many students inspired to think about what immigration has meant to our country, and to their own lives.”

For Smith, speaking at the naturalization ceremony “was such an amazing experience, and a once in a lifetime fifth grade opportunity."  Pitman agrees, adding, “I will never forget that my words (as well as my peers') were the first words [our audience] heard as United States citizens.  I will never forget that."