Editor’s note: Daily reporter Ina Kadic became a U.S. citizen Friday. After emigrating from Bosnia and living in the United States for years, Kadic took the steps to become a naturalized citizen and documented the experience for the Daily.

After intense questioning about my history —ÿfrom whether I have been a part of a terrorist group to if I have ever been a prostitute —ÿI was approved for U.S. citizenship.

I correctly answered the six questions I was required to pass in order to attend the formal citizenship ceremony, but there was more.

John Stewart, adjunction officer from Citizenship and Immigration Services, intensely interviewed me about my life and carefully looked into my eyes to make sure I was telling the truth.

For most permanent residents in the process of attaining citizenship, questions are part of a mandatory routine.

I have spent the last few weeks studying for my citizenship test and learning facts American children are taught as early as pre-school. In the last week, I have learned more about the U.S. government and history than I have known since I moved here eight years ago.

I was born in Bosnia and was officially named a U.S. citizen on Friday.

In order to be eligible to apply for naturalization status, a person must be at least 18 years old, be a permanent resident of the United States, be able to speak, read and write basic English and must be willing, if required by law, to perform military or civilian service for the United States.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site offers a free test to anyone to determine if he or she is qualified to apply for citizenship. One of the questions asks, “Are you a person of good moral character?” The choices are “yes” and “no.”

It made me wonder how the assessment of someone’s character or knowledge of U.S. history facts can make one a citizen of this country. After all, even some natural-born Americans do not know the answers to some of the test questions.

“It’s a very mild little history, not very complicated,” said Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science. “I think [the U.S. government] wants people to study the U.S. Constitution or history so they can say they are informed citizens.”

Schmidt, former citizen of Colombia, said he received his U.S. citizenship several years ago and does not remember most of the questions he was asked.

The four-step process of receiving one’s citizenship can take several months to complete. First, photographs need to be taken of the person applying. He or she is then called in to be fingerprinted. The third step involves the actual test and interview part of the process. Lastly, the person attends a naturalization ceremony and takes an oath.

In order to prepare for the test, a list of all possible questions that could be asked are available for anyone to learn from. I had a total of 96 questions to study, 10 of which would randomly be selected. I had to correctly answer six of the 10 questions in order to pass the test.

The questions included: During what year was the Constitution written? What is the executive branch of our government called? How many voting members are there in the House of Representatives?

Since the first time I glanced at some of the questions, I wondered about how these facts would make me a citizen of the United States. Even though I have spent almost half of my life here, I need to know who said, “Give me liberty or give me death” in order to receive a formal naturalization status.

Even though these history facts are taught in early childhood and reviewed in junior high American history classes, most of the people who knew I was looking over the questions said they did not know the answers to a lot of them. But for most, it is a simple matter of memorization. It seems though, even two weeks later, I still remember all of the answers to the test.

Once I passed the test, I was congratulated by Stewart, the adjunction officer. He asked me if the rest of my family had gone through the process and received their citizenship. My mom’s citizenship ceremony was scheduled for Friday, Feb. 25. After checking some paperwork, Stewart put me in the same ceremony as her.

Usually, it takes about a month to receive a reply after taking the test for the scheduled ceremony. Mine, however, was a week later.

It turned out that my ceremony was exactly eight years to the day after my family and I entered the United States from Germany, where I lived for four years after leaving Bosnia. It seemed to fit to have the ceremony exactly eight years later.

The naturalization ceremony took place in a Des Moines courthouse, and about 60 people were granted their citizenship Friday, including my mom and me. It was nice to have her next to me; I knew it meant a lot to her to finally be considered a true member of this country.

“I think Stewart wanted to give us a chance to do the ceremony together and was able to work it out last minute,” my mom, Jasminka, said. “It was nice to be able to make it a family event.”

During the ceremony, people’s names and the country they were originally from, were read aloud to make sure everyone was present. Soon after, I lifted my right hand and agreed to renounce allegiance to my former government, support and defend the U.S. Constitution and bear arms on behalf of the United States if required by law.

We recited the Pledge of Allegiance and were sworn in as U.S. citizens. After a quick videotaped message from President Bush, we were individually handed our certificates and once more congratulated on becoming citizens.

Molly Clause, administrative assistant for the Secretary of State’s Office, encouraged everyone to take a few minutes after the ceremony to register to vote. It was one of the first things I did when I got out of the courtroom.

Clearly this was something I was looking forward to, although when I found out I could do it together with my mom, it turned out to be a much bigger deal for me than I thought it would be.

Having my dad, Goran, and boyfriend, Zach Fitzgerald, there helped make it more than just a day in which I sat in a courtroom and was handed a certificate. It made it much more significant to have important people in my life with me.

My sister recently moved to California and was unable to be at the ceremony. It is a comfort, however, to know that my family is one step closer to finally becoming a part of this country, my mom said.

There are a some things that will be different from now on. When applying for jobs or filling out my Free Application for Federal Student Aid paperwork, for example, I will now be able to check the “U.S. citizen” status box instead of “permanent resident.” Now that I have received my citizenship and gone through the process, it has been a small, but life-changing, experience.