CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021 - 4

4
4
COL L EGE
A Series of
Unfortunate/
Fortunate Events
DESPITE SETBACKS AND " WHAT IFS " , UNIVERSITY
OF COLORADO COLLEGE OF NURSING STUDENT
FINDS HIS PASSION, ROOTS, AND CITIZENSHIP.
By Dana Brandorff
A
dopted at the age of two
from a Japanese orphanage
by American parents,
Gabriel
Toepel
(born
Tateshi Sakurai) was part
of a military airlift in the
1990s. His adoptive parents
were serving in the United
States Navy and living in
Japan at the time. Half Japanese and half Kenyan,
Toepel was dropped off at Aikeikai Baby Home in
Tokyo and subsequently adopted by the Toepels.
Usually, there is a lot of paperwork in adoptions. And foreign adoptions include
a trail that documents legal entry into the country through immigration
and customs. For Toepel, that wasn't the case. And a series of unfortunate
events left him without documentation.
RUDE AWAKENING ABOUT HIS STATUS
It wasn't until he was applying to colleges that he discovered he had no
paperwork to prove citizenship. All he had was a tax identification number.
In actuality, he was still a Japanese citizen.
As an elite runner at Brighton High School in Colorado, he was sought after
by several colleges and was being recruited by West Point and MIT. One of the
requirements for admission to the military
academy was US citizenship. " My family
didn't realize we didn't have the correct
paperwork until West Point did the checks.
It was a surprise, " Toepel says.
They tried to track down his paperwork but
soon discovered that Toepel's original documents
were destroyed in a fire. Because
he was unable to prove citizenship, his
scholarship was revoked. Around that
time, the US government passed the Child
Citizen Act of 2000, which contains two
provisions that allow foreign-born, biological,
and adopted children of US citizens
CU College of Nursing | Fall/Winter 2021

CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021

CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021 - Cover1
CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021 - 2
CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021 - 3
CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021 - 4
CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021 - 5
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CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021 - 31
CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2021 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_fallwinter21
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_springsummer21
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_fallwinter20
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_commencementspring20
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_springsummer20
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_wintergraduation19
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_fallwinter19
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_graduation19
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_springsummer19
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_graduation18
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ucdenver/cunursing_fallwinter18
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