NANMA CARNEY It took 10 years and a lot of work, but Nanma Carney is a citizen.

“I tried really hard,” she said. “Every day, I tried to learn something new.”

Then, early in January, she got the message: Go to Laredo, where she would be sworn in as a citizen of the United States of America.

Along with 69 other people from 13 nations, she was sworn in by a federal judge.

Carney was born in Taunggyi, Burma, and came to the United States in September, 1999.

Until 2004, Carney lived in Connecticut. She tried for citizenship in 2003, but, she says, she was told at 25 years old she was too young.

In Aransas Pass, she continued to work to learn to be an American, and moved to Port Aransas 3 ½ years ago.

Here, she was hired at the Holiday Inn Express laundry (and more or less adopted) by Jody Hopkins, who called Carney “the sweetest, nicest person you’ll ever meet.”

Hopkins has provided transportation to San Antonio and other places where Carney was required to go for paperwork leading to her citizenship. She took Carney to Laredo for the Jan. 10 ceremony.

“I think she’s great,” Hopkins said. “She’s just like my kid. She’s an incredibly hard worker and everybody who knows her, loves her.”

Now Carney, whose nickname is “Chopstick,” is really part of Port Aransas.

And she has the papers to prove it.