Published: Jan. 17, 2007

The University of Colorado Law School congratulates three of its students that became United States citizens today. Albana Alla and Andra Zeppelin are members of the class of 2008 and Kyaw Tin is the class of 2009, each tells a different and compelling story. Albana is from Albania (as her name indicates) and came to US in 2000 from Kosovo, where she was an interpreter for the US troops. She attended Sam Houston State University in Texas until funds ran out, transferred to Sandhills community college in North Carolina, and finally graduated from the University of North Carolina. Before coming to US, she had completed two years at the University of Tirana law school, Albania. “Going to law school has always been my dream, for a million reasons,” explains a passionate Albana. “I grew up in a communist country. I experienced the fall of communism. I saw how hundreds of people rushed to the center of the city to drag in the streets the bust of our Dictator, Enver Hoxha. I remember our first free elections when a second party besides the communist party participated. I remember when the first non-communist party won the elections in March 22, 1992. Those were awesome times, full of hope for the future. We all thought that the country would prosper quickly and be like Western Europe. That did not happen and to this day we are struggling. The rule of law disappeared and chaos took over.” “But the worst had yet to come. In 1997, our country went through a civil war with the financial pyramidal schemes as an impetus. I saw horrible things: my friends being raped, people that I knew robbed and killed, and sometimes police officers doing the misdeeds. I swore to myself that I would go to law school and send to jail a lot of people that I thought committed crimes but never got punished. I swore that I would become a judge, parliament member, or minister of justice and do some justice. This is what I thought when I was a teenager, nevertheless, those ideals stick with me to this day. Of course, with some doses of reality in them!!” Andra is from Romania and moved to the US in 2001, receiving her BA in Political Science and French, magna cum laude, in 2005 from the University of Colorado at Denver. “Going to law school has been my goal since I was probably four or five,” Andra shares. “I am not entirely sure what led to that at that particular age, but, as years went by, I realized that law school was indeed where I wanted to go. The reason behind that was a desire to work with people and be able to assist them in their affairs both private and professional. I have always known that I have skills that might promote a law career – an analytical mind, a strong desire to find the right answer, and a need to facilitate access to justice and the legal system. Apart from my skills, I have always wanted to work with people and I am hoping that my future legal career will afford me that opportunity.” Andra believes that becoming a citizen opens new opportunities that she did not have access to before, including employment positions in the federal government and being able to vote. Kyaw is originally from Burma and came to the US in 1994 after receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. “I am interested in International law, particularly human rights law, especially since it impacts present-day Burma,” Kyaw exclaimed. “I am also looking forward to taking IP law classes.” He believes that getting to vote is the most exciting aspect of becoming a citizen.