Thursday, 28 August 2008

A dream come true Cambodian custodian now a U.S. citizen

By Mark Rogers
UCMS custodian Keo Sok (center) shows off his naturalization papers to middle school teachers Larry Bruce and Klaudia Fisher.
By Mark Rogers
The Daily Reporter
Wed Aug 27, 2008

UNION CITY — Each day at school as he cleaned the classrooms and swept the hallways, Keo Sok was bombarded by civics questions. Eighth grade students at Union City Middle School (UCMS) constantly asked the questions that would ultimately be on Sok’s citizenship test.

In the end, Sok passed with flying colors — Red, White and Blue that is. Sok, UCMS’ long-time custodian, was a refugee of Pol Pot’s regime of terror in Cambodia during the 1970s. He has been in Union City for 28 years.

Back in January, the students and teachers at UCMS began to rally around Sok’s desire to become an American citizen. A large rally was held, state Rep. Bruce Caswell told the students and Sok about the importance of citizenship, not just being a citizen, but voting and participating in the process. It was an education for both Sok and the students.

On July 21, Sok took the test in Detroit. In the end, he missed one question out of the 100 on the test.

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