Hutt skipped class to accompany Mendes to the John F. Kennedy Federal Building to take the citizenship exam.

Hutt provided much-needed comfort to Mendes, who says he was “very scared” to be tested on material that he had worked so hard to learn.

Ultimately, Mendes passed.

For some citizenship tutors, the process of preparing their tutees for testing can also be very personal.

Gresa Matoshi ’13, an immigrant from Kosovo, joined the program her freshman fall, soon after becoming naturalized herself.

“For me having personally gone through the process of becoming a citizen ... making it easier for someone else to learn the questions and master this test is really important, because I know I was privileged to know the [English] language and [American] history,” Matoshi says.

PURSUING THEIR DREAMS

In addition to citizenship tutoring, the Bridge Program offers classes in English as a second language, computer literacy, and GED and college preparation.

Once proficient in English and prepared for college-level academics, students of the Bridge Program often move into the Harvard Extension School to take classes at the discounted Harvard employee price of $40 per class. Many students hope to someday receive a degree.

One of these individuals is Kalan Chang, an Ecuadorian immigrant, who was naturalized this past year with help from Citizenship Tutoring. Chang says he hopes that becoming an American will help him gain access to greater opportunities as he pursues his education to become an accountant.

“In my opinion, the American dream is not a vague desire to have more, but the chance to become more,” Chang says.

When Chang immigrated from Ecuador in 2005, he says he “felt excited and lost,” in a foreign land attempting to navigate by street signs he could not understand.

Eventually, he got a job working as a custodian at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

“This country has been really good to me,” he says.

“The only thing it has asked of me is to pay taxes,” he adds, jokingly.