APOPKA, Florida—Professional skydiver Igor Tolstov has jumped from airshow airplanes for more than 40 years to the cheers of crowds, but his biggest leap of faith was his solo free-fall from Russia in 2017.
“America is now my nation, my country,” he told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Tolstov, 57, of Deland, Florida, was one of 20 new Americans from 17 countries who raised their right hands and recited citizenship oaths during a July 4 naturalization ceremony at Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, near Orlando, Florida.
A native of Barnaul, Russia, Mr. Tolstov has been skydiving since he was 14 years old, as a professional since 16. His children and grandchildren remain in western Siberia. He doesn’t know when—or if—he’ll see them again.
“Today is a big day,” he said before the ceremony began, unsure how to describe his emotions.
“I don’t know. It is a feeling like the same when you free-fall,” Mr. Tolstov said, calculating he’s spent 160 hours of his life plummeting to Earth with nothing but a nylon parachute on his back.
The next time he skydives, he’ll do so as a citizen of the United States of America. “Now,” he smiled, “a soft landing.”
“How much more symbolic can you get than to welcome 20 new citizens on Independence Day?” USCIS Orlando Field Office Director Michael McCleary said, holding a folder with the citizenship certificates.
Some wanted to see it, just to make sure it was there.
Retired law school professor Robert McIntosh, a volunteer citizenship teacher at Hope CommUnity Center, cited Aristotle and Thomas Jefferson in his remarks to the 20 celebrants and about 40 friends and family in the elementary school classroom.
But it was a quote from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who served from 1916 to 1939 that he asked the new citizens to ponder.
“The most important political office is that of a private citizen,” he said.
Middle District of Florida Magistrate Judge Leslie Hoffman Price, before administering the 140-word oath, noted the new Americans come “from many different lands, many different cultures, but you share one thing—the desire, the perseverance, to be an American, to be a citizen of the United States of America.”
Generations of immigrants have built the nation, sustained its representative form of government, made the United States what it is—and what it could be, she said.
“Now it’s your turn,” Judge Hoffman Price said.
A Dream Realized
Roshin Roy, a 25-year-old computer science student at the University of Central Florida, is ready for that turn, that chance at “a new opportunity in a new land.”Mr. Roy and his family—his sister was also among the new citizens—arrived five years ago from Kerala, India.
“This is a big moment for me. I’ve been dreaming about being a citizen,” he told The Epoch Times, noting the first thing he would do as a newly minted citizen is celebrate with his family and get back to studying to finish his degree this year.
His new country needs computer scientists. “I want to be part of it,” Mr. Roy said.
Maya Green, a 29-year-old originally from Changrai, Thailand, and registered nurse who works at an Orlando-area hospital, has been in the United States for five years.
It was frustrating when she first arrived in Orlando, waiting nine months for a green card that allowed her to work during an odyssey that took her to Chicago, Texas, Miami, and back to Orlando after meeting her husband of four years, Austin Green.
Along the way, Ms. Green didn’t just find a career—also in a field her nation needs—and a country, but a family. Many were there. She had a crowd.
Her sister-in-law, Kali Tripp, came from San Antonio, Texas, to bring her a red, white, and blue dress to wear for the ceremony.
Before the ceremony Ms. Green said—actually told her family in no uncertain truly American terms—what they would do to celebrate her first act as a citizen of the republic.
“We’re going to eat. I’ve been so excited, I couldn’t eat,” she said.
Actually, the first thing Ms. Green did—like her fellow new citizens—was register to vote before leaving the lobby.
Annalee Brown, 30, a caregiver and medical assistant originally from Jamaica, was worried about family and friends on her native island after it was pummeled by Hurricane Beryl the day before.
Sitting in her seat, waiting for the ceremony to begin, she was taking it all in, speaking with the lady from Lithuania next to her, the man from South Korea in front of her.
Ms. Brown has been in the United States for 11 years. Becoming a citizen “means so much to me,” she said, admitting she was “a little bit” nervous.
Asked what she’d do when she walked out the door as a citizen, she paused, then said, “I have to think about that.” She then quickly added, “Celebrate.”
‘My Legacy ... My Future’
Doron Tordjman has been in the United States for 43 years. Originally from Israel, he’s a programmer at Disney who lived in Southern California for decades before being transferred to Disney World in Central Florida two years ago.His experiences buying a home and trying to purchase a firearm made him realize, “Now it is time to be a citizen. I just want to make it official.”
He and his wife of 14 years, Victoria, a Las Vegas native, knew exactly what his first act as an “official” American would be.
“We’re going to get a burger,” he said.
Mathias Cuello, 35, and his wife, Jackeline, were gathering their preschoolers as they left the center.
An avionics technician, he came with his family to the United States from Argentina when he was 10-years-old. As a citizen, he said, “I can now hopefully get a job at the FAA,” referring to the Federal Aviation Administration.
But it’s more than that, Mr. Cuello said. “I’ve been 98 percent American but it needs to be 100 percent.”
The crowd was filing out of the center into the parking lot, pooling in the shade under moss-draped live oaks to escape the searing sun. Butterflies flitted about Pentas shrubs in lavender bloom.
“I have two kids here,” Mr. Cuello said. “My legacy is here. My future is here.”
