Sisi Po is having quite a summer holiday season. Over the Memorial Day weekend, he graduated from Hoover High School. He topped that on Independence Day by graduating again, this time to United States citizenship.

Sisi was one of 30 newly naturalized Americans who raised their right hands and took the Oath of Allegiance at the 10th annual Iowa Cubs citizenship ceremony at Principal Park on Tuesday night. The first I-Cub game he ever attended and there he was on the field and in the lineup. But the native of Thailand was not the only DMPS connection to the stirring event.

Bindhya Shetisural came here from Nepal and graduated from Lincoln High School in 2016.

Mimi Abdalla (Yor) hails from Sudan. Two of her children are students at North High School, one is at Oak Park Elementary School, and the eldest graduated from Roosevelt High School in 2016 before heading to the University of Iowa.

Lalnghak Sanga is from Burma and has a child who’s a student at Moore Elementary School.

Besides the citizens who were welcomed into the American fold with a standing ovation and lots of congratulations and handshakes from a packed ballpark, derivative citizenship was also conferred on their minor children under the age of 18.

The DMPS mission statement is as follows: The Des Moines Public Schools Exist So That Graduates Possess the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities to Be Successful at the Next Stage of Their Lives.

Put another way, the district is in the citizenship business and, even in the summertime, business is good.

Graduation on Memorial Day weekend and citizenship the night before Independence Day; we can’t wait to see what Sisi will do to mark Labor Day.