The Edmunds Middle School gym in Burlington was turned into a temporary courthouse Thursday to welcome 23 people as new citizens of the United States.
Friends, families and students packed into the gym to watch the new citizens, from 13 different countries, take the Oath of Allegiance.
Caleigh Cross was one of the 23 candidates for U.S. citizenship. Cross is a reporter for the Vermont Community Newspaper Group, and has lived in Vermont for 13 years.
Now Cross said she is excited to vote and feels like a Vermonter.
"To me it means that I've been accepted, that I can make an impact in this country," Cross said. "It feels like this is my country now, I've lived here for 13 years and it feels like this is my home."
For many applying to become a new citizen, there was a wait. Anita Moore, a public affairs officer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said on average it takes nine months to process the application filled out by citizenship candidates.
Moore said data for citizenships applications for the 2018 fiscal year aren't yet finalized, but the St. Albans office of the USCIS received just under 600 applicants in the first three quarters of that fiscal year.
Ivona Koenig took the Oath of Allegiance on Thursday. She said she came to the U.S. over 20 years ago from communist Poland and the citizenship ceremony made her think back to her childhood.
"I don't know why, but today I have to think a lot about this time when I was a little girl and I was thinking about all these people during martial law being imprisoned and how great it would be to be in a country which is free and celebrates democracy," Koenig said.
After the ceremony, Koenig, her husband and two kids headed to Ben & Jerry's to celebrate with some ice cream.
