Anastasiya Volkov’s parents brought her to this country from Russia in 1994, when she was about 2.
The Vancouver woman became a U.S. citizen Wednesday during the sixth annual naturalization ceremony at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. Volkov was accompanied by her daughter, Sophia Searcy, who is almost 2.
The age similarity is what Volkov focused on after the ceremony as she reflected on her new status as an American citizen.
“I won’t have to worry about the things my parents worried about when I was her age,” Volkov said as Sophia licked the frosting off a cupcake. “Now I can have a positive life for my child.”
Did You Know?
• The 21 people sworn in as American citizens Wednesday at Pearson Air Museum came here from 11 countries: Brazil, Canada, Fiji, India, Ireland, Mexico, Moldova, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine and Vietnam.
The 2011 graduate of Evergreen High School was among 21 people from 11 nations who took the oath of allegiance in the historic hangar at Pearson Air Museum.
The National Park Service and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services were partners in the event.
It was one of 13 naturalization ceremonies around the U.S. this summer with a “Westward Ho!” theme, celebrating the westward expansion that brought so many new arrivals to this part of the country in the 1800s.
“Like you, they left their homes for the promise of new lands,” Quinn Andrus, an official with Citizenship and Immigration Services, said as she welcomed the group. “They came to seek their fortunes, to live better lives, and just start over.”
That could be the story of Ritesh Lal, who came here from in 1995 from Fiji.
“There was poverty, a military coup, a lot of stuff going on,” Lal said after the ceremony.
At 22, “I was the eldest son, and my parents decided I was going to have a better future.”
And that’s what brought Lal, his wife and their infant son to Vancouver.
Over the years, Lal’s wife and their Fiji-born son became citizens while he focused on supporting the family.
“Now things are settled in my life,” he said.
“My experience in this country has been awesome. I feel proud to be an American,” Lal said. “I wish I had done it earlier.”
