Eleanor Ballenger made a choice. Instead of renewing her residency for another 10 years, she applied for her U.S. citizenship. Now, nine months later, the Smith-Cotton High teacher is a full-fledged American citizen.
Ballenger, a native of England, first applied for her citizenship in the summer of 2016. The process was orderly, easy, and fairly simple. Ballenger said the hardest part of the entire process was saving the $780 needed to pay for it all.
After sending in her application, fee, and the required documents, she was sent a biometrics appointment, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ran several background checks. Ballenger met with an immigration officer, and was finally tested over her English proficiency and knowledge of American government and American history.
Because Ballenger had already lived in the U.S for quite some time and had been teaching for almost 16 years, she had a pretty good grasp of the information that would be on the test. She studied a little before the exam to refresh her memory, especially on the current senators and representatives from Missouri, but she was prepared.
“Of course, I aced it,” Ballenger beamed.
After passing the test, she was given an appointment for an oath ceremony, which was hosted March 2 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Ballenger said there were more than 200 people from about 40 different countries at the event. A federal judge administered the oath of citizenship while her mom, Susan, and her husband, Ed, attended, and a local choir sang the National Anthem and “God Bless America.”
Ballenger, through laughs, said she celebrated becoming an American by eating at a Mexican restaurant.
Ballenger grew up in Bracknell, Berkshire, England, where Harry Potter’s house from the first movie is located. She also lived in Saxmundham, Suffolk, a small English town on the East Coast. She moved to the United States in the middle of her senior year of high school. After her mother remarried, her step-father was to be transferred over to Whiteman Air Force Base, near Knob Noster. Ballenger said her mother gave her the choice of whether to move, and Ballenger chose to live in a new country.
“I thought it would be a neat experience, and my dad had moved over when I was younger,” Ballenger said.
Though it was a big adjustment, the Air Force base in England provided an American school, which allowed her to easily transition into the U.S. school system and American culture. In January 1995, her family ventured over the Atlantic Ocean and began their lives in America. Ballenger studied at State Fair Community College and the University of Central Missouri, and began teaching special education at Smith-Cotton in January 2000.
Ballenger is surrounded by a support network. Steve Schilb, social studies teacher at Smith-Cotton, met Ballenger 20 years ago when she moved to the United States, a time when she was determined to become a teacher. Schilb said he has admired Ballenger’s determination to become an American citizen.
Michala Pulliam, one of Ballenger’s students, said Ballenger’s citizenship is “pretty cool, considering she’s lived here quite some time. She was determined to teach in this country, so why not become a citizen?”
Now she has received her citizenship, Ballenger said she has to figure out a new goal to tackle.
