?• Obama attended Franciscus Assisi Roman Catholic Primary School in Jakarta, Indonesia, from
kindergarten  through the 3rd grade.  He was registered on January 1, 1968, under the name Barry
Soetoro, an Indonesian citizen whose religion was listed as Islam.

• Israella Pareira ?Iis? Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as
an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp
math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said."

• His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled
'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she
said."

• Obama also attended Sekolah Dasar Nasional Menteng No. 1 (Basuki school), in Jakarta,
Indonesia, 4th grade and Punahou School in Hawaii from the 5th grade to the 12th grade;

• Soon after high school, Barack Obama studied at Occidental College, Los Angeles for two
years but in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City to major in Political
Science with specialization in International Relations. The topic for his thesis was 'Soviet Nuclear
Disarmament'.
 
• It was in 1983 that Obama graduated with a B.A from Columbia and then he joined the
Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group.
 
• In 1988, Obama attended a three-year program at Harvard Law School stating his point of
view that a degree in law is the best vehicle to facilitate better community organization and
activism.
 
• Based on his grades and a writing competition, Obama got selected as the Editor of the
Harvard Law Review by the end of his first year at Harvard and was elected President of the Law
Review in the second year.
 
• Obama peers, who gave their votes to make him the first black president of the Harvard Law
Review, say that he was a natural leader, an impressive student and a nice guy.
 
• During his law school years, Obama also worked as an associate with Sidley & Austin and
Hopkins & Sutter law firms.
 
• His enterprising nature urged him to take a national training course on Alinsky methods of
organizing.
 
• In 1991, Obama graduated from Harvard with a J.D. magna cum laude and taught constitutional
law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years. The courses he taught include equal
protection areas of constitutional law, voting rights, racism and law.

• When asked about his best and worst grades or subjects in school, Obama replied, "graduated
magna cum laude from Harvard Law and a D in 8th grade French".

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