March 7, 2001
Proud to be an American
School celebrates citizenship of Noelle Gibeson
By LISA PERKINS
Herald staff writer
Noelle Gibeson, a third-grader at Trinity Lutheran School, is officially a citizen of the United States; she has a certificate from the mayor of Traverse City to prove it.
Gibeson is among an estimated 75,000 adopted children from across the country who became a United States citizen on February 27, when the Child Citizenship Act went into effect. The act grants automatic citizenship to children born abroad who are adopted by a legal resident of the United States.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, her classmates in Mr. Bruce Cozad's classroom planned a celebration for Noelle that included receiving a certificate from the mayor, presented by mayor pro-tem Linda Smyka, and a key to the city.
State Representative Jason Allen sent a U.S. flag, which had flown over the capitol building. Vic McCarty, chairman of the board of Christian education for Trinity Lutheran, was also on hand to award a certificate.
Noelle's classmates presented her with a toy panda to add to her collection. She collects the pandas as a symbol of her home nation, China, and "just because they are cute."
Paula Gibeson, Noelle's mother, also shared the story of her adoption from China with Noelle's classmates.
Adopted in 1992, Noelle was the first Chinese born child to be adopted in northern Michigan. Her mother made a trip to China, where she had to cut through political red tape and work around the language barrier, to bring home the four-month-old girl, who had been left in a basket on the steps of an adoption service.
After sharing some cake, decorated in stars and stripes and topped with sparklers, Noelle said she was glad to be an American.
When asked what the best thing about being an American is, Noelle smiled and said, "amusement parks, I really like all the amusement parks." Truly the answer of an American girl.