Cierra Skyers: Immigrant Stories

Sierra Cheyenne Skyers, the all-conference, all-region, all-academic, award-winning soccer star with proud roots from Toronto, Canada. She immigrated from Canada in 2012 to pursue soccer opportunities in the States. While living in the United States, she has had some unexpected experiences. When asked about the first things she noticed when moving to America, she mentioned all the misconceptions that Americans had about Canada. So many people had so many inaccurate assumptions. Sierra also immediately noticed that living in the South alone was very different. The biggest transitions were the accents, seeing the Confederate flag in every direction she looked, and the overwhelming presence of guns and weapons. Upon arriving, she describes how she was approached with personal questions as if they were public advertisements and was shocked by how outspoken everyone was. Before coming to America, she had only ever seen the Confederate flag in textbooks and only ever seen a firearm on the hip of a police officer. She discussed how a girl at work had pepper spray on her keychain and that came as a big shock to her. Weapons were not that prevalent in Canada, so it was a shock to see them so socially accepted, states Skyers. She has been in the United States for going on six years and plans to stay here as long as her visa gets approved. She has formed many relationships in America and plans to continue those relationships and seek a teaching opportunity in the States. She knows that the American dollar is worth more, so staying in the United States to work just makes sense for her. While she loves America, her mom, dad, and brother still live in Toronto and she has an extremely close relationship with them. Not only has it made it difficult that they're so physically far from each other, but she has also been hit with the reality that shipping anything across the border is even more expensive than normal. Sierra is still extremely close with her family and is counting down the days until they get to come to her graduate school graduation in May of 2019. When asked what she would say to someone who is befriending an immigrant on the do's and don'ts of what to say, she states, educate yourselves. Some of the most offensive comments I have received have been simply from a lack of knowledge about my culture and where I'm from. People who aren't here work really hard to get a visa and legally be here, so that should be respected in itself. America claims to be very welcoming, but I have been in clear instances where they are not. If this story should teach anything, it is that just because we are not from another country that is physically far away, that does not mean that our cultures are not drastically different. The little things that she points out are things that most Americans see as normal and just a part of our daily lives. Not that the American culture is any less than the other, but some of the significant things that she noticed should work as a wake-up signal to how the United States is viewed from the outside.