Summary

At the start of Chapter 5, Obama and her brother were in high school. Craig attended a private Catholic high school. Obama tested into Chicago’s first magnet high school, Whitney M. Young High School, which featured “forward-thinking teachers and brand-new facilities” (54). Obama asked herself “Am I good enough to attend Whitney Young?” (55). By the end of her four years she was the class treasurer and a member of National Honor Society. While in high school, she befriended Santita Jackson, whose father was a powerful African American political figure.

Obama also recounts applying to college. She visited her brother, who attended Princeton. She applied, despite her high school college counselor, who told her, “I’m not sure…that you’re Princeton material” (66). Ultimately, Obama was accepted to Princeton University.

Obama left for Princeton in the summer of 1981, the beginning of Chapter 6. She...