In Rainbow Love and Service,
Winning the Amanda Award: my story
As some of you know, I won the Amanda’s Award in 2018, which was the first ever Amanda Award, honoring Mom Amanda Giannini and her story and fight with breast cancer. This year, I was honored to present the 2019 award to Vanessa, PWA of Manassas Assembly #13 and newly installed Grand Worthy Associate Advisor. I realized I didn’t really specify much about my story, so I wanted to give a brief overview; to spread more awareness.
My story isn’t one of illness, or stress. It goes even further. I moved to the United States when I was 1 and ½ because my parents wanted me to have a good life. I’m like all others; but one thing that differentiates me from others is that I do not have a Green Card.
There is quite a bit of confusion over Green Cards. If you do not have a Green Card, that simply means you are not allowed to apply for a citizenship yet, but it does NOT mean that you are illegal.
I will give you all a short overview on all this. The USCIS grants 1,000,000 Green Cards per year, 140,000 of which goes to employment-based visas. That number is divided by 5 for 5 subcategories, and 7% of that is given to each country. Every country gets 7%, even countries as small as Vatican City, with a population of only 500, gets about 2,000 – 3,000 families Green Cards per year, and once the year finishes, those Visas expire, unused.
If I was born in a different country, I would have gotten a Green Card faster. If I was born in Nepal, which is only two days of a drive away from the city I was born in, I would have had a Green Card by now.
A misconception that occurs often is that “people with Green Cards steal jobs”, when in reality, the people who come here make jobs, and aid in people getting promoted. My dad is extremely dedicated at his job, and has created so many new positions in his workforce and helped others rise positions.
The problem is getting worse as I get older. I only have 6, about 7 years to go. After I turn 21, there is no certainty in anything.
Some people might think, “Oh, doesn’t DACA sponsor you?” For people like me, it does not. DACA only supports illegal immigrants, which I support, but it is a bit unfair, as us legal kids are left behind. We pay taxes, we have gone to school here since we were little, I don’t even remember life before I moved to Virginia.
There are many groups rallying for this cause, such as the Republican Hindu Coalition and SIIA (Skilled Immigrants of America), and I am a part of SIIA’s H4 Dreamers campaign to speak out for kids just like me, to help the movement to inform Congress about us and to let us not be left behind.
The talents of Rainbow Girls
Our assembly, Quantico-Freedom #6, has a lot of girls involved in extra activities! Like all other assemblies, we have a lot of talented girls!
More than half the assembly is in Marching Band. Lilli, Joella, and Zoe are all part of Marching Band at Battlefield High School in Haymarket. Lilli plays an instrument in the band, and Joella and Zoe are in Color Guard, a subset of Marching Band. We also have color guard members over at Potomac high school; Batu and Zoey are part of the color guard over there.
We also have a lovely cheerleader, M’Balu, who is the station of Charity in our assembly. Britney is also involved in some things; she is part of an Acapella group at Colgan High School and is at the school for Choir.
Personally, I take a different route. I am not part of Color Guard or Marching Band, or even any regular sport. I am on two different robotics teams; I am on a First Robotics Competition (FRC) team and a First Tech Challenge (FTC) team. I am on one of the 3 FRC teams in the county, and also on one out of 2 FTC teams in the Haymarket Area. Both are under the branding of ILITE Robotics, and are located in Haymarket, VA.
I can’t forget some of the members of Manassas Assembly! Kate of Manassas Assembly is also on the FRC team that I am on, and actually convinced me to join the FRC team. She was on the team a year before me, and helped me out a bunch during the build season. Allison of Manassas Assembly is also another member of Color Guard, she is a member of Colgan’s Color Guard!
All of our girls in VA Rainbow are extremely talented! We all do different things, but are equally talented and special. Rainbow Girls can do anything that we put our minds to, and really are the girlhood of our nation.
In Rainbow Love and Service,
Akshita
Quantico-Freedom Assembly #6
Quantico-Freedom’s initiations
Quantico-Freedom Assembly #6 officially reopened on June 15th, 2019. This was the day we were all looking forward to. Before the assembly opened, we started out with 7 members of Manassas Assembly, and one member of Fairfax assembly. Starting our assembly, we wanted to create a mission and vision statement so that we would keep our focus. The whole assembly’s ideals are within those lines, and to me, they are really special, since I phrased it together, and it really increased my excitement and faith in the assembly to grow.
Our first initiation into our assembly was on the day we reopened. All the grand officers came to the lodge, and we initiated two people: Britney and Kadija. We were supposed to initiate 4, but two of our initiates couldn’t come at the last minute. Nevertheless, the initiation was amazing, and memorable. At the end, I did the rose lecture.
To get the final number of girls we needed, we had to initiate two girls at Grand Assembly, which we did. The initiation at Grand Assembly was amazing, and to think we were able to have 5 girls all throughout the state be initiated at this event was amazing! Go VA Rainbow!
Now Quantico-Freedom Assembly is officially able to hold formal meetings, and I look forward to the future of this assembly, may it last till the end of time!
In Rainbow Love and Service,
Akshita
Quantico-Freedom Assembly #6
The Virginia Grand Assembly is a proud member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls – a non-profit youth group that teaches girls what matters most – leadership, confidence, and citizenship.
