Copper Mountain College wants to help you pass the U.S. citizenship test.
If you’re living in the Morongo Basin but are not an American citizen, now is a great time to consider becoming a naturalized citizen. Being a citizen gives you the right to remain in the United States, the right to vote and hold elected office, gives you eligibility for a U.S. passport for international travel, opportunities for your children to become citizens, and more.
To become a citizen, you need to fill out certain forms and pass a test administered by US Customs and Immigration Services.
My partner, who is from Australia, recently became a naturalized citizen of the United States, and we studied for several months in advance of her scheduled test. As a native English speaker, she had an advantage over many other immigrants.
Copper Mountain College’s Adult Education program wants to give everyone an advantage when it comes to applying for citizenship and passing the exam. They are offering a free program that can help you to become a citizen.
I spoke with Dr. Elle Weatherup, the Faculty Coordinator for the program at CMC.
She explained the genesis of the citizenship program.
“I discovered that there aren’t a lot of citizenship prep courses close to the hi-desert. These can be run out of libraries, out of post offices, but there aren’t any running. It was a really beneficial way to bring this to our community.
The class has four components to it. The first part tells you how to go about becoming a citizen. What does the process entail, which is really helpful. The second and third part are about building your vocabulary, language acquisition, practicing the questions that would be on the test and in the interviews. The final part is about what to do once you are a citizen.
The class is only taught in English because the number one skill you need to pass this test and to become a citizen is English. They don’t want to offer it in any other languages. The most important thing is that you have people there practicing the immigration questions with you. Sometimes the test can be as brief as walking into immigration and they ask you a few questions and you pass. It is largely based on your English skills.
It is an online program. You can do this program from home. The benefit of doing this with CMC is that we have qualified instructors there to help you practice the interview questions and get you through those different language acquisition skills.
The most important thing about citizenship is that it allows people to integrate into the community, whatever that might mean to them.”
To enroll in Copper Mountain Colleges free U.S. Citizenship Preparation course, you can call (442) 241-5534
