A South Shore Elementary School That Produced a President and a First Lady

The Sun-Times' Neil Steinberg points out in his column Wednesday that Barack Obama is not the only president with roots in Chicago. Steinberg mentions Ronald Reagan, who, he notes, lived as an infant above a store in South Shore. He also mentions Valdus Adamkus, who lived in Chicago for 47 years before becoming president of Lithuania. And he mentions Janet Jagan (nee Rosenberg), who died last week in Guyana where she was elected president in 1997.

Jagan, who succeeded her husband Cheddi Jagan as president of the South American country, also grew up in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, where she attended Bryn Mawr Elementary School.

What caught my eye about Steinberg's interesting item is that Michelle Obama also attended Bryn Mawr -- Now Bouchet Math and Science Academy--located at 73rd and Jeffery Boulevard. She's not a president, although some have suggested she has the stuff to succeed her husband. (I am steeped in all things Michelle since writing a profile of her for Chicago magazine.)

She and her brother Craig both skipped second grade at the neighborhood school; Michelle went on to graduate as Bryn Mawr's salutatorian in 1977 before heading to high school at Whitney Young, then Princeton, Harvard Law School, and the law firm Sidley & Austin where she met Barack.