Students watch as teacher becomes a naturalized citizen

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A Chilean native who watched with pride as 33 miners were rescued last October from a copper mine in Chile where they had been trapped for 69 days, has become a U.S. citizen.

Paulina Montaldo- Stader of Canfield was one of six people who became U.S. citizens Thursday in a naturalization ceremony conducted by Mahoning County Probate Judge Mark Belinky.

At the ceremony, Montaldo-Stader was accompanied by her sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students from New Castle Christian Academy, where she teaches Spanish.

Collin Farone, a seventh- grader at the academy, distributed U.S. flags to the new citizens after they were sworn in.

Montaldo-Stader initially came to the United States in 1984 in a Rotary exchange program and kept in touch with her host family when she went back home.

She returned here nine years ago on a work visa and married an American three years ago. Her son, who graduated from Canfield High School last year, is a student at Kent State University.

Also becoming U.S. citizens Thursday:

Boma Olufunke Oshonowo, Boardman, Nigeria.

Jumana Musa Niser, Liberty, Palestine.

Joyce Peggy Felton, Aus- tintown, the Netherlands.

Mohammed Mahmoud Alghnaimat, Austintown, Jordan.

Arvinder Kaur, Campbell, India.