thanks, seems there are still freepers who confuse the word GRADE with CLASS OF. If Mercer opened to GRADE eight students in 1956 those students would have been there for GRADES nine, ten, eleven and twelve, to graduate CLASS OF 1960.
NOW CHECK OUT THE ‘TEACHERS’ VIDEO:
http://seattlest.com/2008/01/30/obamas_mixed_an.php
In the first one it clearly states she spent one year in Seattle and then TWO YEARS at the high school. That might have taken her to 1958.
Yes, I remember this from a couple years ago.
She couldn't have spent two years at the high school before 1958--the school didn't open until 1957 and it admitted only the class of 1959 as Juniors. I believe the class of 1960 was not admitted or if they were, it was only some of the students.
I suppose you might think that the class of 60 was also admitted in 57 as sophomores which supports your two years to the end of her Junior year. That's possible.
“NOW CHECK OUT THE ‘TEACHERS’ VIDEO:
http://seattlest.com/2008/01/30/obamas_mixed_an.php
“In the first one it clearly states she spent one year in Seattle and then TWO YEARS at the high school. “
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The person videotaped asserting that “fact” is Tim Jones, reporter, Chicago Tribune.
His exact quote:”...but her formative years were spent in the Pacific NorthWest-—one year in Seattle and two years in a semi-rural island just east of Seattle called Mercer Island.”
If that interview was conducted around the time-frame of the post date, Jan 30, 2008, I find it odd that it directly conflicts with his critically acclaimed and oft-cited article, dated March 27, 2007, in which Jones states,
“Obama visited the Seattle area last October, and in a speech to a Democratic Party rally at Bellevue Community College, he mentioned that his mother attended Mercer Island High School before moving on to Hawaii. In “Dreams,” Obama wrote that the family moved to Seattle “long enough for my mother to finish high school.””
“But her stop was more than some educational cup of coffee; Obama’s mother spent 8th grade through high school here. Four of those five years were spent on Mercer Island, a 5-mile-long, South America-shaped stretch of Douglas firs and cedars, just across from Seattle in Lake Washington.”
Obama’s mom: Not just a girl from Kansas
Regardless, as far as I have been able to determine, reporter Jones has never publicly offered a reason how his 5 years in Washington became 3 years in Washington (or vice versa).
In the grand scheme of things, it may not be important, but IMO it lends credence to the likelihood of SAD’s absence from Washington that senior (12th grade) year and, as you both mentioned, fits into the 1959 Chicago au pair/Black Orpheus scenario-—the date the movie played in Chicago was pegged down to a certainty here on FR.
Also, Chip Wall oddly points to his senior yearbook photo in the video interview, but not SAD’s.
David: Off-the-wall question: Did Mercer Island high school have what I think had been called “advanced placement” -— an opportunity whereby a student could fulfill requirements and graduate at the end of the 11th grade and proceed to college? Off the wall because I think had that been the case with SAD, her friends and teachers would have been proud (and permitted) to discuss.
FN: Had we not also established that father Stanley departed Washington for Hawaii in 1959, rather than 1960?