CULTURE

Barack and Michelle Obama Stepped Out to Attend Sasha’s High School Graduation

Barack, Michelle, and Malia all made an appearance.


Obamas Arrive In Mass. For Vacation
Timothy Tai for The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Barack, Malia and Michelle Obama made a rare public appearance together this weekend. The Obama family stepped out in support of the family’s youngest member, Sasha Obama, for her high school graduation.

Yes, Sasha Obama is officially a high school graduate and, also, an adult. The 18-year-old, who seemingly grew up overnight, as evidenced by her recent prom photos, graduated from the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., on June 9. For the occasion, she also had support from Obama family friend and, of course, her dad’s vice president Joe Biden, who was also in attendance to watch his granddaughter graduate. Both Biden’s granddaughter and Sasha appear in the school’s class photo, which was shared by the institution on Facebook.

As for Sasha, the recent graduate is now reportedly off to the University of Michigan. Back in December, she reportedly announced her college pick on her private Instagram account, where she shared a photo of herself alongside two of her best friends and wrote, “So proud to say I’m going to college with my sisters!!,” as Page Six noted at the time. In the background, the University of Michigan’s football stadium, “The Big House,” loomed. But the Obamas have yet to confirm Sasha’s pick.

Her 20-year-old sister Malia, meanwhile, is at Harvard University, where she met her British boyfriend, Rory Farquharson. So far, her extracurriculars include starring in a viral music video for her friends’ indie rock band.

It’s not coincidental that both sisters have grown up to be model citizens. Michelle has talked before about how much hard work went into parenting them. Back in the fall of 2017 she told an audience, “Sometimes we treat our children too preciously because of the issues they’ve dealt with…Barack and I, we thought about with Malia and Sasha, okay, we could’ve spent eight years feeling sorry for them that they were living in a bubble that every misstep for them would be on YouTube, that their privacy, they didn’t have access to their father in a way…. We could’ve felt bad for them, and there would’ve been a truth there. But our view was this is their life, and we can’t apologize for the life they have because a whole lot of it is good.”