Barack Obama

Student Name: Arlene Ricketts

Who is Barack Obama?• Barack Obama became in 2008 the

first African American to be elected president of the United States. Obama, a Democrat, had represented Illinois in the United States Senate since 2005. Before being elected to the U.S. Senate, Obama served for eight years in the Illinois Senate. In the 2008 presidential election, Obama defeated Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona. In a heated fight for the Democratic nomination, Obama had defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York and former first lady.

Who are the people in Obama’s immediate family?

• Michelle Obama, née Robinson, the wife of Barack Obama, was born on January 17, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. She is a lawyer and, was a University of Chicago Hospital vice-president. She is the First Lady of the United States.

• Barack and Michelle Obama have two daughters: Malia Ann (born on July 4, 1998), and Natasha (known as Sasha), born on June 10, 2001.

•  Sashay is the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr. lived for the first three years of his life. Sasha is also the first White House resident born in the 21st century.

What colleges did Obama attend?

•  After graduation from high school, Obama enrolled at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

• In 1981, Obama transferred to Columbia University in New York City. Obama received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the university in 1983.

• Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988 and graduated magna cum laude (with great honor) in 1991. In law school, he became the first African American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review. 

What is Obama’s favorite sport?• Obama loved to play basketball.• Obama was a reserve player on the

Punahou School basketball team that won the state title in 1979. For his success at making long-range jump shots, his teammates gave him the nickname “Barry O’Bomber.”

What do I like the most about Obama?

• I like the fact that Obama was a black child that succeeded, besides the fact that its hard for a black person to be somebody so important.