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Different Students explain what being American means to them 

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Different Students explain what being American means to them 

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America is consider a new door where you can start over and become who you want to be. Opportunities are granted here no matter what if your eyes are open for the right chances.

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TE_Equality of Opportunity Doesnt Exist in America.jpg

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How to become an American Citizen and represent your country 

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How to become an American Citizen and represent your country 

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Gaining U.S. citizenship can provide many opportunities for a resident of the United States. Among these are access to a U.S. passport, the right to vote in public elections, and protection from deportation. However, becoming an American Citizen requires a few steps, from establishing your eligibility to filing, fingerprinting, attending an interview, passing tests of your knowledge of English and of U.S. civics, and attending an oath ceremony.

Step One: Find Out Whether You Are Eligible

The first question is whether you have a U.S. green card (lawful permanent residence). With very few exceptions, you must obtain a green card before you become eligible to apply for citizenship. So if you haven't yet reached this point, learn about your eligibility by reading " Eligibility for a U.S. Green Card."

As a lawful permanent resident, you must meet additional requirements in order to be eligible for U.S. citizenship. These concern the length of time you've spent in the U.S. as a green card holder, your good moral character, your ability to pass a test in English, and on U.S. history and government, and more. To check on whether you are eligible, see " Who is Eligible to Become a Naturalized U.S. Citizen?"

Step Two: Overcome Barriers to Your Ineligibility

You may discover that you are not eligible to become a citizen just now. Perhaps you can't show good moral character because you committed a minor crime (though not a major enough one to make you deportable). Or perhaps you broke the continuity of your residence by spending too long outside the United States. It may be that simply waiting longer will make you eligible for citizenship, or you may need to take other steps to make you eligible. Consult an immigration attorney for a full analysis.

See our article, " On What Grounds Can I Be Denied U.S. Citizenship?", for common reasons your citizenship would be denied.

Step Three: File USCIS Form N-400

Once you have established your eligibility, you need to file some paperwork with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The N-400 is the form to get the process started. As of 2017, it costs $640 to file the application for naturalization, plus an $85 biometrics fee. You will need to attach a copy of your green card.

Once your application has been accepted, you will be mailed a date for your fingerprinting and biometrics.

See our tips for filing the N-400 to find out what to expect.

Step Four: Get Fingerprinted

In order to process your application, a background check will have to be performed. You will be given a date and address to a local office where you will be fingerprinted. Your fingerprints will be run through the FBI for a background check.

Step Five: Attend a Citizenship Interview

After your fingerprinting, you should receive an appointment date and address for an interview with a UCSIC officer. During this interview, the officer will go through your N-400 and confirm your answers to all the questions. The officer will also test your knowledge of English and of U.S. civics. To help prepare, read " Preparing for the Naturalization Interview."

Step Six: Attend the Oath Ceremony

If you are approved at (or soon after) your interview, congratulations, but you are not a citizen quite yet. You will be called in for a large public ceremony, at which you and others will be given the oath, in which you swear loyalty to the United States. Then you will be given a certificate of naturalization, showing that you are a U.S. citizen.

Do You Qualify?

You probably won't need to hire a lawyer to apply for U.S. citizenship, unless you have some troublesome items in your background. If you're ready to take on the task yourself, see Becoming a U.S. Citizen, A Guide to the Law, Exam & Interview, by Ilona Bray (Nolo).

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Steps to Become an American Citizen - AllLaw.com

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Gaining U.S. citizenship can provide many opportunities for a resident of the United States. Among these are access to a U.S. passport, the right to vote in public elections, and protection from deportation. However, becoming an American Citizen requires a few steps, from establishing your eligibility to filing, fingerprinting, attending an interview, passing tests of your knowledge of English and of U.S.

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Being a leader helps create your identity and represent who you are as a person. Leaders take charge and proudly represent something such as a organization, state, or a Country as a whole.

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HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News

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Read the latest headlines, news stories, and opinion from Politics, Entertainment, Life, Perspectives, and more.

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What it means to be American? (Student Opinion) 

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What it means to be American? (Student Opinion) 

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"Being an American doesn't just mean you were born here in fact that doesn't have much to do with it. Being an American is how you choose to live your life representing our flag and country confidently."
-Jessica lee

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The perfect Picture of what it means to be a true and active American

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The perfect Picture of what it means to be a true and active American

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"What it means to be an American is in the hearts of the people who, in their struggles and heartaches, in their joys and triumphs, fight for America and fight to be American every day." - Jose Antonio Vargas

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Being a true American goes beyond where you were originated or born. Being an American is how you live your life pledging to the American flag.

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Today's Fourth of July holiday, our country's birthday, marks a new beginning for undocumented Americans like me.

Last month, TIME magazine featured an unprecedented photograph of 36 undocumented young people, myself included, on the cover of its U.S. and international editions. "We are Americans," the headline declared. "Just not legally." Shortly after, President Obama, in the most significant step in the fight for immigrant rights since President Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, issued a directive to stop the deportation of an estimated 1 million DREAM Act-eligible undocumented youth and welcome them to our workforce. America, in turn, embraced 1 million dreams. And in last week's Supreme Court decision on Arizona's immigration law, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion for the highest court in the land: "As a general rule, it is not a crime for a movable alien to remain in the United States."

As we celebrate America's Independence Day -- as we explore what it means to be American on the most American of all days -- I also celebrate my independence from the word "illegal."

Academics and lawyers will be quick to point out that I, in fact, was never a "criminal." Being in the U.S. without authorization is not a crime, but rather a civil offense for the country's estimated 12 million undocumented residents. Yet for too long, the rhetoric around immigration has been shrouded in and synonymous with criminality. As a cable news producer on Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom" tells a colleague in the show's most recent episode, we've grown accustomed to talking about human beings as if "we're talking about scraping gum off our shoes."

"These people chose to take a huge risk to become Americans," the producer notes, "and they deserve a better descriptor than 'illegals.'"

To me, what it means to be an American goes beyond your place of birth or the documents you have, back to when throngs of Irish, Italian and Eastern Europeans crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of a better life, no papers asked. What it means to be an American is less about who you are than what you are about-- how you live your life, how you contribute to this country, how you pledge allegiance to a flag hoping and praying it will make room for you. What it means to be an American is in the hearts of the people who, in their struggles and heartaches, in their joys and triumphs, fight for America and fight to be American every day.

A few weeks after I "came out" in June 2011 about my undocumented status in an essay in the New York Times Magazine, Washington state revoked my driver's license. Among the first people to reach out to me was Aaron Sorkin. I've interviewed Sorkin before. He told me he was working on a new show about a cable news program, and that the second episode is set on the day Gov. Jan Brewer signed the Arizona immigration bill into law. He asked for my thoughts on immigration. In an email later, I told him about the first time I watched one of his films. It was 1997, not too long after I discovered that I didn't have the proper documents to live in America. I was watching "The American President," a movie starring Michael Douglas, and toward the end of the film, Douglas, as the president, says: "America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight." I was 16, lost and disoriented, and I told Sorkin that hearing those words helped me realize that I had to fight -- that America was a fight and that America had to be earned.

Undocumented Americans, aspiring citizens like me, have been fighting and will continue to fight for this country we call home. And, as more and more undocumented Americans and the people who support us -- the Good Samaritans in our lives, the teachers, pastors, neighbors and friends who make up our underground railroad -- "come out" and tell our stories, America's view of immigration and the nature of citizenship itself grows increasingly more complex and nuanced. It becomes about human beings.

Together with a small group of friends, I founded a campaign called Define American, which seeks to elevate conversation on immigration. And elevating and broadening the conversation means engaging different types of audiences from all walks of life. After appearing on "The O'Reilly Factor" last month, I received an email from Dennis Murphy of Omaha, Nebraska. The email reads:

"Mr. Vargas:

As founder and former state chairman of the Nebraska Minutemen, now merged with the Nebraska Tea Party, I was positively impressed by your interview with Bill O'Reilly. If I understand your situation correctly, you [were] brought into the United States by your parents when you were a young child, and they chose for whatever reason to do so in a fashion that avoided our immigration law. You now refer to yourself in your blog as "an undocumented American," which I believe is a fair and accurate assessment."

Thank you, Mr. Murphy, for considering me one of your fellow Americans. Let's keep the conversation going. Let's keep exploring what it means to be an American.

WATCH: Jose Antonio Vargas and others define 'American':

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Today's Fourth of July holiday, our country's birthday, marks a new beginning for undocumented Americans like me. Last month, TIME magazine featured an unprecedented photograph of 36 undocumented young people, myself included, on the cover of its U.S. and international editions. "We are Americans," the headline declared. "Just not legally."

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aaJrOfR_vtU6fY2m2PyYOfNKSX3BrCCM_mDOX_E3n8Q/edit?usp=sharing

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Despite race, gender, sex, etc. the  American dream is attainable for anyone who is motivated and works hard for what they want.
America is known for its seemingly endless opportunities.

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Awakening the American dream: Kevin Maggiacomo at TEDxOrangeCoast