Studying to become a US Citizen in Las Vegas? We offer monthly classes that teach the various functions and branches of U.S. government, Nevada government and other critical information for citizenship. Classes will be taught in English and Spanish.
Students will learn:
- How to understand and answer 100 typical questions about the United States government that are asked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- The functions of the three branches of government: legislative, executive and judicial.
- The United States Constitution and the function of national government.
- Nevada Constitution and functions of state government.
- Civic education, how to register and vote and consumer awareness.
For more information call Stupak Community Center at 702-229-2488. Enroll at https://cityoflasvegas.link/CitizenshipClasses
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City’s Citizenship Classes Help Immigrants Achieve the American Dream
by Anne Davis of UNLV
With her granddaughter cradled in her arm, Mayra Crum sits behind a desk at the front of a large classroom in the Stupak Community Center near downtown Las Vegas. As students walk into the room and sit at their desks, Crum smiles and greets them in English and Spanish. In a few minutes the room fills with 38 immigrants determined to experience the American dream.
“For them, the American dream is not to buy a house or buy a car, it’s to become an American citizen,” Crum said. “It doesn’t matter what their native language or their country of origin, they and their families come and want to stay here and become citizens.”
The City of Las Vegas created the Citizenship Classes to prepare immigrants to pass a 100-question Naturalization Exam that assesses their knowledge of U.S. government, history, and geography. The course covers the three branches of government, the functions of national and state government, and the U.S. and Nevada Constitutions. It takes about two months.
“When they pass the test, they come back showing me their certificate while telling me about their experience,” Crum said. “We have a board on which they can sign their name and write the number that they are.”
The number next to their name represents the sum total of students who have let Crum know that they have passed the exam since she began teaching the class 27 years ago. As of Feb. 23, 2023, 10,796 students had informed her that they had passed the exam. Seven more have passed the exam in March. And these are only the ones who let her know they’ve passed.
As a naturalized citizen herself, Crum knows how valuable the class can be. In 1985, she immigrated from Mexico, where she was a criminal lawyer, and settled in Las Vegas. At the time, the City did not offer citizenship classes, so she was forced to study on her own to pass the exam. In recognizing the need, the City of Las Vegas was among the first in the country to offer citizenship classes, Crum said.
When she started teaching the course in 1996, she was surprised to discover that only three students enrolled and one of them was her husband, Gonzalo Camelo.
“Three?” she remembered thinking to herself, “that’s just not enough.”
When asked why so few were taking the class, she paused and bent down and opened the bottom drawer of her desk. With some effort, she pulled out a thick stack of papers and held them out in front of her.
“Back then the material was this thick,” said Crum holding the stack with two hands. “I talked to one of the officers [at immigration services] and I said, ‘what do we need for people to become American citizens? What do they need to learn?’”
Armed with answers, Mayra recruited Camelo to help her edit, cut, splice and abbreviate the class materials down to a fraction of its original size.
“All that material, down to this” she said, this time holding no more than a dozen pages. “This was what students needed to know to pass the exam.”
She also began recruiting, telling everyone she could about the City’s citizenship program and urging them to talk to others. News of the class spread by word of mouth. Within four months, she faced a new challenge – too much interest and a six-month waiting list.
To keep up with all these new students, Crum, with the City’s support, eventually turned to her family. Her husband, son, and daughter all now instruct classes at the Community Center with her. Camelo co-teaches courses with Crum. The experience, he says, helped him find purpose in his life.
“Like Mayra says: When you have a passion for doing what you love, then until the last day you can do it, you do it,” Camelo said. “And after that, you just enjoy the rest of your life, thinking of what you did in your past days, seeing how so many people became successful.”
Crum’s classes now include people from all over the world, with different cultures, dialects, and disabilities, all learning together in one room. The teachers do everything they can to help the students understand the material, including trying to speak different languages.
If these tactics fail, “we draw a flag, we point out colors, sometimes I work with them directly - and they pass [their naturalization exams],” said Mayra’s daughter Alexandra Camelo.
Mayra believes that no matter what difficulties a student brings into the classroom, it is her job to help them overcome those obstacles on their path to citizenship. In some cases, the students own families fail to believe they can succeed. One student, she recalled, couldn’t read or write, and even his family discouraged him.
“They told him you can’t do this, you’re not worth it, you’re not smart enough,’” she said. “I told him to listen to what I say, ‘You can do it.’ I was with him all the way, making him feel comfortable and useful. He started erasing the board for me and other tasks. He only needed someone to help him and make him feel important.”
She showed how she used the slides from her teaching materials and presentations to help him memorize the words, pictures and materials necessary to pass the exam. He proudly returned the class with the certificate in hand, and her response was to say, “I told you so.”
“We teach them how to have self-value, how to value life, and to know that there’s always going to be a better tomorrow, always,” added Crum’s daughter and co-teacher Alexandra. “It’s not just about the material.”
She recounted how a student confided in her about her struggle with infertility and feeling helpless. Alexandra told the student about fertility clinics in Las Vegas and urged her not to wait until she was naturalized.
“Ever since then,” Alexandra said, “she tells me that ‘because of you, now I’m getting my IVF – you don’t know how you’ve changed my life . . . Now my family’s happy, now I’m getting myself treated.’ She had tears in her eyes.”
The classes become a community, with classmates supporting one another through issues much bigger than taking their citizenship exams.
With Alexandra and her son by her side, Crum plans to teach for as long as she can before she retires. She then hopes her children will continue teaching the classes and maybe even her granddaughter she had cradle in her arms at the beginning of class. For all of those who return with the certificates in hand, thousands more passed the exam without returning, including entire families who have passed through her program.
“The thing that makes me proudest is when they say: now I have my own business, and I have my own house,” Crum said. “Things like that, that they never expect to do, and they are so happy – it makes you feel good.”
That’s why she has no plans to retire any time soon.
“It’s more than teacher and student - it’s way more than that . . . If you just love what you do, that’s when you stay.”