It’s official: Malia Obama, 19, has moved into Harvard University.
On Monday, she officially joined Harvard’s freshman class of 2021, People reports. While Harvard’s Opening Days won’t kick off until Aug. 30, Malia and her parents, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, were seen hanging out in Harvard Square.
As previously reported, Obama, who graduated from Washington, D.C.’s private Sidwell Friends School, opted to take a gap year before heading off to college. “The president and Mrs. Obama announced today that their daughter Malia will attend Harvard University in the fall of 2017 as a member of the Class of 2021,” the former FLOTUS’ office announced in May 2016. “Malia will take a gap year before beginning school.”
Of course, it wasn’t an easy decision. Before committing to the elite institution, Obama spent time touring multiple colleges: Brown, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.
Although she delayed her start, she kept herself plenty busy, completing an internship with the Weinstein Co., a film and television production and distribution company founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein. In January, she attended the Sundance Film Festival and in June, she traveled alongside her parents and sister, Sasha, 16, to Bali.
“She was fantastic; she was amazing. She was down to do whatever a PA is asked to do, and I had wild respect for her for that,” Halle Berry said of Malia, who worked as a production assistant on the set of her hit sci-fi show, “Extant.”
“Everybody couldn’t really see her as a PA, although she tried and tried to be one. We just couldn’t really see her as one, but to her credit, she tried very hard to be one.
“‘Can we call your dad or your mom?’ Yeah, I was such a huge fan of her. She was amazing … she is such a smart, beautiful, young woman. Look at who her mother and her father are, so duh! It was amazing.”
While, we’re unsure what path young Obama will choose moving forward, she’s already received some sound advice from her father. “Be open to new experiences when you go to college,” he once told People. “Don’t go to college just to duplicate the same experience you had in high school … ”
