Emma Hicks has lived in Rome for six years and is a senior education major at the University of West Georgia completing her classroom practicum at Garden Lakes Elementary. She recently added one more descriptor to the list: United States citizen.

Hicks moved to Rome from the Philippines six years ago with her husband Jerry Hicks, and though her marriage allowed her to receive a green card and legal status, she said wanted to become a full-fledged citizen.

“Citizenship is the last part of being an immigrant,” said Hicks while sitting on a bench outside of the fifth-grade classroom where she is working on her practicum, the step before college students become student teachers. “It’s a full feeling of belonging. Plus, I am proud to be an American.”

The class Hicks has been observing is Cathy Dollar’s reading class, but Dollar said the fifth-grader social studies teacher at Garden Lakes used Hicks’ naturalization process as an illustration to bring the lesson to life.

“I’m very excited about this,” said Dollar, who is also a member and past Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization that strives to help immigrants become citizens. “I’m excited to have been a small part of this. We’ve certainly enjoyed having Emma here.”

To prepare for the citizenship test, Hicks studied a booklet containing 100 questions about American history, civics, geography and law.

The actual test was only five questions, asked face-to-face, and Hicks answered each one correctly.

She said she was not nervous because she was well prepared and already knew most of the material from her college classes at UWG and Georgia Highlands, where she took her core courses. She said all Americans should know the information in the booklet.

“It’s a good thing to know all those questions, to be a citizen,” she said.

Hicks said her mother and siblings still live in the Philippines and she lasted visited her native country in 2003. When she completes her undergraduate degree she plans to work on a master’s degree at UWG and hopes to eventually get a teaching job at a school in Floyd County.

“I hope I can land a job,” she said with a laugh.