UND welcomes new Americans on Constitution Day
For fourth consecutive year, University plays host to naturalization ceremony on anniversary of founding document’s adoption
Pursue strategies that enable us “to value and appreciate both our collective identity as humans and the tremendous variation within our humanity.”
Editor’s note: In the UND LEADS Strategic Plan, the Equity core value calls on UND to pursue strategies that enable us “to value and appreciate both our collective identity as humans and the tremendous variation within our humanity.” This story reports on the University’s three-year-old Constitution Day tradition of hosting a naturalization ceremony for New Americans from around the globe.
This story originally appeared in UND Today on Sept. 18.
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On the 238th anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, 50 newly minted citizens swore their allegiance to the founding document — becoming the nation’s newest citizens in the process.
The new citizens, representing 28 different nations of origin, gathered at the Memorial Union on Wednesday, Sept. 17, to complete the final step in their rigorous application process – a naturalization ceremony concluding with the Oath of Allegiance. The ceremony, which has been a Constitution Day tradition at UND since 2022, is administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) – an agency within the Department of Homeland Security.
To qualify for citizenship, applicants must be residents of the United States for at least five years, pass a background check, attend an in-person interview with the USCIS and demonstrate proficiency in both English and U.S. civics.
Alice Senechal, magistrate judge for the United States District Court of North Dakota, presided over the ceremony.
Following the Oath of Allegiance, UND President Andy Armacost greeted the new citizens and urged them to reflect on the oath’s meaning — particularly as it pertains to the Constitution’s first three words, “We the people.”
“As I was listening to the oath you just took, it sent tingles down my spine,” he said. “Because as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, I took a similar oath many times in my career. When we think about the national motto ‘E. Pluribus Unum,’ which stands for ‘from many, one,’ that recognizes what our nation is about. Coming together from different backgrounds and nations for the betterment of society within this nation. Which, I think makes the world a better place – recognizing the rich cultures you bring to the United States.”
Armacost added that a university campus like UND – with its commitment to upholding the fundamental freedoms of speech, assembly and voting enshrined in the Constitution – is an ideal venue for a naturalization ceremony.
For Krista Wikstroem, her path to citizenship followed her husband’s. Both natives of Helsinki, Finland, Wikstroem’s husband obtained permanent residency through the State Department’s Diversity Immigrant Visa Program – commonly referred to as the “green card lottery.”
The program provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas annually to natives of countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S., according to its website.
After receiving his green card, Wikstroem’s husband enlisted in the U.S. Army, which placed him on a path to citizenship.
Now in their tenth year of living in the U.S., the couple is happy to call Grand Forks home – having previously resided in Texas, Georgia and South Korea. No strangers to the cold, they embrace North Dakota’s harsh winters, jokingly calling the state “a flatter version of Finland.”
The new citizens were also welcomed by North Dakota First Lady Kjersti Armstrong. A native of Oslo, Norway, Armstrong recently became a naturalized U.S. citizen and encouraged attendees to continue telling their diverse stories.
Effective storytelling, she added, is an antidote to divisiveness and xenophobia.
“Let me tell you something beautiful about this country – you do not have to leave behind who you are,” Armstrong said. “This country is at its best when we embrace all of who we are. It’s a patchwork quilt, made richer by every thread that we bring into it. And you all contribute to its beauty.”
Armstrong has embraced her role in such storytelling. She is one of 15 naturalized citizens residing in North Dakota who participated in the New Americans Project – conceived and led by Joongwha Lee, associate professor and interim chair of UND’s Department of Communication.
The UND CONNECT initiative, which also features the work of three UND Communications student interns – Kiera Musil, Dylan Niemi and Lauren Huso – documents its participants’ diverse pathways to citizenship. Some came to the U.S. to pursue higher education and employment, while others arrived decades ago as children, fleeing conflict in their homeland.
Prior to Wednesday’s naturalization ceremony, the project culminated in a video featuring interviews with the 15 new Americans — screened at the Memorial Union’s Social Stair. The New Americans project also features an exhibit titled “From Many Places, One Community,” a collection of portraits and quotations on display at the Memorial Union Gallery. (A separate story about the project can be found in today’s edition of UND Today.)
The project’s student interns agreed that their work has positively impacted their worldview.
“The stories highlighted today have left a permanent mark on me,” Huso said. “They remind me of the power of resilience, freedom and the meaning of citizenship.”
Niemi cautioned attendees not to take the opportunities afforded in the U.S. for granted.
“I was fortunate to grow up with a roof over my head and three meals every day,” he said. “To me, and everyone else I knew, this was just a normal routine. But to many others out there, this was the American dream. The only downside of being born in the United States, is that you don’t have a proper appreciation or understanding of what it took to build the standard here.”
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