As I sat to write this article about being elected president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, I was struck by how life has come full circle. As a child of immigrants from Sicily, I have marveled at how far our family has come since arriving in the United States in the mid-1950s.

Like others before them, they were seeking good jobs so they can take care of their families. Not much has changed as immigrants still seek out America as the beacon of hope as a free society allowing for free speech, religious freedom and ability to become as successful as one chooses to be.