For 193 people, a naturalization ceremony hosted by UMass Amherst and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) on May 11 was both a celebration of the journeys that brought them to the United States and the beginning of a new chapter as American citizens.

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The new citizens, hailing from 51 countries from Afghanistan to Vietnam and Barbados to Moldova, waved small American flags, as family and friends snapped photos and erupted in applause inside Bowker Auditorium as the new citizens took the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance.

“It’s such a great honor to be a citizen of this country,” said newly naturalized citizen Morad Majjad, who was born in Morocco and began his journey to U.S. citizenship in 2021.

The ceremony opened with remarks from SBS Dean R. Karl Rethemeyer, who welcomed the new citizens.

“For most of us, the story of the United States is a story of immigration,” Rethemeyer said, reflecting on his own family’s history of immigration from Germany and Eastern Europe. “In the years ahead, I hope that you will be able to look back on this day with fond memories and pride in your own story.”

Chancellor Javier Reyes, himself a naturalized citizen originally from Mexico, shared his personal journey to citizenship and spoke about the uncertainty he faced after arriving in the United States at age 23 to pursue graduate studies at Texas A&M University.

“I know that the naturalization process is not easy,” Reyes said. “And the decision to become a citizen of another country is harder still.”

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Reyes recounted deciding to remain in Arkansas while pursuing tenure at the University of Arkansas, despite uncertainty about whether he and his wife Maritza would eventually be able to secure permanent residency.

“That was a bet, a gamble that I had to take,” he said.

Reyes became a U.S. citizen in 2016. Now, as chancellor of Massachusetts’ flagship public university, he said hosting the ceremony carried special meaning.

“That is just something that I would have never dreamed about,” Reyes remarked.

Chief Judge Elizabeth D. Katz of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts administered the Oath of Allegiance and urged the new citizens to embrace the responsibilities that accompany citizenship.

“Those of us who were born in this country often take the privilege of citizenship for granted,” Katz said. “We did not have to apply for it. We did not have to study for it.”

For many of the new citizens, the ceremony represented both the end of a long process and a new beginning.

Majjad, who immigrated to the United States from Morocco after previously living in Spain, said he was drawn to America by the opportunities he found here.

“The opportunities I got in this country, I didn’t even get in my home country,” he said.

This was the fourth consecutive year UMass Amherst has hosted a naturalization ceremony in partnership with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.