what middle school did barack obama attend?
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School
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 As of 2015 , the school enrolls about 80 students , about half of whom are African @-@ American or Latino . The school is divided into upper and lower schools , the former ages 11 to 18 and the latter ages 4 to 11 , though they are not physically separated by age . Children apply for admission and visit for a five @-@ day orientation . Students are admitted by unanimous vote of a teacher @-@ parent @-@ student admissions committee . The group first determines whether applicants ' parents support their decision to attend and whether the school can provide for the students ' needs . The school keeps a waiting list . 

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 Among a number of other schools named for Stevens , the Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School in Washington , D.C. was founded in 1868 as the first school built for African @-@ American children there . It was segregated for the first 86 years of its existence . In 1977 , Amy Carter , daughter of President Jimmy Carter , a Georgian , was enrolled there , the first child of a sitting president to attend public school in almost 70 years . 

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 Benjamin Franklin High School has appeared in film , books , and other media . In a short play that appears in New Orleans novelist Walker Percy 's Lost in the Cosmos , the lead character attends Franklin . 

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 After high school , Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend Occidental College . In February 1981 , Obama made his first public speech , calling for Occidental to participate in the disinvestment from South Africa in response to that nation 's policy of apartheid . In mid @-@ 1981 , Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half @-@ sister Maya , and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan and India for three weeks . Later in 1981 , he transferred as a junior to Columbia College , Columbia University , in New York City , where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations and lived off @-@ campus on West 109th Street . He graduated with a BA degree in 1983 and worked for a year at the Business International Corporation , then at the New York Public Interest Research Group . In 1985 , Obama was among the leaders of May Day efforts to bring attention to the New York City Subway system , which was in a bad condition at the time . Obama traveled to several subway stations to get people to sign letters addressed to local officials and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , and was photographed at the City College subway station holding a sign protesting against the system 's condition . 

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 An article in The New York Times in 2006 wrote that parents hired outside tutors in concern for the school 's academic preparation . A third of the original students left within the 2004 academic year , as did the original teachers . 
