News

On June 26^th, the Society was honored to serve as the Presenting Sponsor of Chester County’s New Citizens Naturalization Ceremony, hosted by Founding Forward and The Union League, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Founding Forward, formerly the Freedoms Foundation, informs and engages citizens through transformational experiences grounded in American history. These experiences enable students, teachers, and citizens to understand, appreciate, and practice the principles, rights, and responsibilities of American citizenship, a perfect backdrop for the Chester County Naturalization Ceremony, and a perfect complement for our Society’s America/250 Celebration.

The Pennsylvania Society has been sponsoring these ceremonies throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania for many decades, and this has been a seminal year for our program. What was for many years focused in Center City, Philadelphia, has now expanded, as part of our America/250 celebration, out to the surrounding counties of Lancaster, Berks, Chester, and Lehigh. We were so proud to be invited to participate with this event at Founding Forward.

The event was a resounding success with the stands full of families and dignitaries alike. A full program included welcome remarks from Governor Josh Shapiro and our own President Emeritus Richard F. Pagano and then culminated in the legal and ceremonial swearing in of the 65 new citizens from 19 countries, all the while beneath the watchful eye of the famous Statue of “George in Prayer”, surrounded by the military Standards and Colors of our Society’s patriot ancestors. The event was followed by a wonderful reception in the Galleria in the Martha Washington Building on Campus.

Enormous gratitude goes to our Society’s Color Guard for not only enabling us to sponsor this event, but also for the wonderful display of our flags that served as the patriotic backdrop for the celebration. The Color Guard detail was led by 2LT Austin W. Lamac, together with Guardsmen Schuyler C. Wickes, Andrew C. Colket and Brad S. Miller.