IT was 2010; the first time Travis Blackman ever saw snow. It was one of the most important things he wanted to experience when he first got to the United States from Guyana.Blackman, 24, a special events coordinator for the Tropicana Hotel & Casino, living in Atlantic City, didn’t even know if snow was real until it was falling in front of him. Before then, he had only seen it on television.
Blackman came to the United States for opportunity, and the chance for a better life. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate a simple wonder in his new climate.
“I thought it was rain; I couldn’t believe it,” he said from his office. “I just opened my two arms up and enjoyed the entire moment. I was overjoyed.”
Everything surprised Blackman about his new country. The cabs in New York City amazed him when he stepped off the plane with his father in May, five years ago. Guyana’s cabs didn’t have a code of colour. The change in temperature took some getting used to for him as well.

HIS ONE GOAL
But he kept his focus. He had one goal in mind when he got to America. He had to bring his mother, Denise Patterson, and his 14-year-old brother, Nkosi Patterson, to America.
“That’s my Number One priority; I need to get them here with me,” he said.
And the plan after that is the simplest of all.
“I plan to help them to have a better life in the United States of America,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s all about sacrifice.”
He went to high school and college in Guyana, came to Atlantic City straight from New York and was immediately given a job as a security guard at the Showboat Hotel & Casino in 2010.
Blackman said he cut back on his expenses, and tried to avoid all the excesses Atlantic City has to offer in order to bring the rest of family here. His mother and father are separated, and he currently lives with his dad.
He only worked for a year at Showboat before applying for a job at the Tropicana with security.
But the job was already filled by the time he got there. His next steps were as serendipitous as his five years in America proved to be.
“This was the last place I came to,” he said. “I tried to follow-up but I couldn’t find human resources… so a valet cashier showed me where it was; it was a few steps away. I talked to them, and they had a marketing job available. Now, instead of me looking for one, I’m being offered one. There’s no way I’m going to turn that down.”
ONE STEP CLOSER
Within a week, he was working at the Tropicana in marketing. Blackman has been promoted three times in as many years at the casino, and is revered by his coworkers for his background.
Lauren Clinton, a 32-year-old Millville native and media services specialist at the Tropicana, echoed the benevolent sentiments of their co-workers: The Tropicana has given Blackman a chance to afford his dream, and his peers are just happy to have met him.
“He is the sweetest,” she said. “He’s very quiet, but he would do anything for anyone. We all adore him.”
Last Tuesday, Blackman passed his naturalization test, and is an official citizen of the United States, a process that starts when you enter the country, and continues after you’ve lived here for five years as a permanent resident.
And just like the snow he thought he’d never see looking at a television in Guyana, Blackman is one step closer to bringing his family back to him; something that seemed so distant when he was looking at cabs in New York City.
“Being an American makes me feel free, to the point where you can’t stop smiling,” he said.
Blackman estimates he’ll be financially stable enough to bring his mother and his brother to Atlantic City in about 18 months. He wants to move them in to a new home or apartment, and live with them.
He still talks to his mother three times a week, and he can’t wait for the day when she gets the same feeling he had five years ago.
He said that just to get the news one is coming to this country is “mind-blowing.” And it’s been his determination to carve a way for himself in Atlantic City that will one day reunite his family.
“I’ve accomplished everything,” Blackman admitted with a wry smile. “I wouldn’t settle for less. You have to go out and get it; no one’s going to bring it to you.” (pressofatlanticcity.com)