President Barack Obama Biography, Accomplishments, and Historic Campaign Barack Obama is without a doubt one of the most interesting men to have ever served as President of the United States. A mixed-race man born to a Kenyan father and an American mother originally from Kansas, Obama had an interesting childhood. The president was born in Hawaii, where his parents met while attending university, where his mother earned a graduate degree in Anthropology. His parents divorced when Barack was only 3 years old, and his mother remarried to an Indonesian man. When his stepfather was recalled to Indonesia by his country's government, 6-year-old Obama moved with his family and lived there for 4 years. At the age of ten, he moved back to Honolulu to live with his grandparents, but his mother stayed behind with her new husband. She remained there, conducting anthropological field work for the majority her life, which ended tragically from cancer in 1995. Obama began his early academic experience in Jakarta, where he attended a Muslim school for two years, followed by a Catholic school for another two. The rest of his schooling took place in Honolulu, where he lived with his grandparents. After high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College, one of the oldest and most respected liberal arts colleges on the west coast. After attending for two years, he then transfered to ivy-league Columbia University in New York to study political science, specializing in international relations. He graduated with a B.A in 1983. After five years outside of the academic world, Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988, where he served as editor of the Harvard Law Review in his first year. In his second year, he made history as the first black man to be elected president of the publication. He graduated with a J.D. magna cum laude in 1991. Between university and law school, Obama worked for the New York Public Interest Research Group, and then moved to Chicago and became director of the Developing Communities Project. After graduating from Harvard, Barack directed Illinois' Project Vote, successfully registering 150,000 unregistered black voters. He then began teaching constitutional law on a Fellowship from the University of Chicago Law School while writing his book, which evolved into a memoir entitled Dreams From My Father. During his twelve years at University of Chicago (1992-2004), Obama also served in a law firm that specialized in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development. As if that weren't enough work, Obama also served on the board of directors of seven different organizations between 1992 and 2002, including non-profits, charities, community aid programs, and civil rights groups. Obama's political career began not long ago, being elected to the Illinois senate in 1996. He was reelected twice, in 1998 and 2002, and during his third term he became chairman of the Illinois Senate Health and Human Services committee. Nearly all of his accomplishments were bipartisan efforts, demonstrating the politician's ability to see past differences and work in a cooperative spirit. In 2003, Obama officially announced his run for the US senate, won the nomination against 15 other candidates, and went on to win the election with a record 70% of the vote. Throughout his term in the US senate, Obama was extremely productive and participative, holding assignments on several committees and sponsoring many reforms. After just one successful term in the senate, Obama then began his historic campaign for the Presidency of the United States. After securing the nomination from the Democratic party, one of the most noteworthy presidential races began. Democrats had the option between electing the first female president or the first black president, and the race was incredibly close right until the end. True to form, after securing the election, Obama continued to reach across the aisle and welcome differing opinions by electing a bipartisan cabinet that included his opponent Hillary Clinton as the new Secretary of State.