Southeast president to get his U.S. citizenship July 4

Southeast Missouri State University president Carlos Vargas-Aburto has seen his share of Fourth of July celebrations. This one will be special.

Thirty-one years after he first began working in higher education in the United States, Vargas will become a U.S. citizen.

He will be among those who will take the oath of citizenship at a naturalization ceremony as part of the "Great American Fourth of July" event Monday in downtown Cape Girardeau.

"I am very excited about it," Vargas said Wednesday. "I have been interested in doing this for a number of years."

The event will begin at 6:45 p.m. in front of the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau. Festivities will include patriotic music from the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band and presentation of the Spirit of America Award. The evening will conclude with a fireworks display about 9:15 p.m.

Carlos Vargas-Aburto, president of Southeast Missouri State University, and his wife, Pam, left, pose for a photo with a Southeast student outside Kent Library on May 5 during the campus-wide inauguration celebration for Vargas.Laura Simon

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., will be the guest speaker at the naturalization ceremony. U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. will preside at the ceremony.

Vargas said he was attracted to this nation even as a child growing up in Mexico.

"I remember when I was very young, I had a strong attraction to American history and American culture," he said.

He loved to watch American combat movies set in the period of World War II.

Vargas remembered as a teenager, he followed the devastating news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Carlos Vargas-Aburto, president of Southeast Missouri State University, smiles after a game of racquetball March 12 with Southeast student Naveen Palthyan at the Student Recreation Center North.Laura Simon

The university president admires this nation.

"Certainly, the United States is really an impressive democracy," he said, before pointing out governmentally it is a republic, as noted in the naturalization test.

Vargas said one of the best things about this country is "it is a place of freedom for individuals" and a country where people have "freedom of speech and religion."

The United States is "truly a land of opportunity," he said before acknowledging some Americans live in poverty. But he added people can improve their lives here.

Opportunities exist for "people who are committed and make an effort to improve themselves," he said.

Vargas came from humble beginnings. His family had little money.

"We used to appreciate just the littlest things," he said. Vargas said his parents, who did not have college educations, understood the importance of schooling.

Growing up in Mexico, he never dreamed one day he would be a college president.

A physics major, Vargas came to the United States in 1973 to attend graduate school in Michigan. He later returned to Mexico to teach at the university level.

He began his higher-education career in the United States in 1985 at Kent State University in Ohio. Over the years, he has held a number of administrative posts at schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

He was named president of Southeast Missouri State University on March 4, 2015, and began his duties July 1 that year.

Little more than a year later, he is ready to become a citizen. After taking the oath, Vargas will have dual citizenship, as he already has citizenship in Mexico.

Vargas said his relatives in Mexico are happy about his impending U.S. citizenship.

To apply for citizenship, an applicant must be at least 18 years old and a legal permanent resident with an alien registration card. He or she must have been physically present in the United States for at least 30 months of the previous five years,

Applicants must be able to read, write, speak and understand English in ordinary use.

Vargas said he had to fill out a detailed online application form, which included demographic information about himself and his family.

Vargas also had to undergo fingerprinting and a criminal-background check.

He sat for a personal interview with an immigration official at a federal office in St. Louis, where he was quizzed about American history and government.

Vargas said the interview didn't last long.

"It turned out to be very short. I was out of there in 20 to 25 minutes," he recalled, adding he was told immediately he had passed.

After earning citizenship, Vargas said he looks forward to doing what other American citizens can do: vote.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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