Sr. Carmen Rostar,OP

Grand Rapids, MI

 She and her husband Anwar lived in Muskegon where she was able to take English classes for a few months and then she found work. They were blessed with three children and moved to Grand Rapids last December. Since they had been in the states for five years, they applied for citizenship and were called to Detroit for their exam in January. Sinan had the flu prior to the trip and they traveled with their young family early in the dark morning. Her baby cried all the way to Detroit.Sinan Neamat came to the United States from Bagdad, Iraq six years ago.
Anwar passed his exam but Sinan did not. She was very nervous, had a crying child all the way, and had been sick. Is it any wonder? With citizenship, if a student misses part of the exam, they are allowed to take the part they missed over again, typically within three months. In March, Sinan called the library for help and they referred her to GRCC. Because we collaborate with GRCC for our citizenship classes, they referred her to us. When she called, I told her we don't offer individual classes and she could sign up for our fall course. After I hung up from her call, I prayed about her situation and thought that the women are always the ones left behind. With the gracious help of Sr. Josine Schafer, Sr. Janice Mankowski, and Sandy we set up a schedule of two-hour tutoring sessions twice a week. I soon realized the Sinan knew most of the civics questions and she had good verbal skills. Dictation was another story however, so we gave her a list of words she would need to master for her test and we had her practice taking dictation of simple sentences that covered many new words.
 
On Apr. 16th she took the test again and passed. This time she was not ill, the baby didn't cry and they didn't have to travel in the early dawn to arrive for an 8:00 am exam. On May 20, Sinan took her Oath of Naturalization at the G.R. Ford Presidential Museum. Her teachers attended the ceremony. We are so proud of her!