Malia Obama has grown up in the public eye， but this next big step shes taking is in private.

The First Daughter， 17， was graduated from Washington， DCs private Sidwell Friends School and her parents had determined to attend and applaud1—and shed a proud， sentimental tear or two—just like any other parent. No press coverage by White House reporters and no photos to be broadcast across the globe. The Obamas “are treating this as a private family moment，” a White House official says.

Neither of her parents was scheduled to speak at the ceremony.

The President made his first appearance on The Tonight Show and told host Jimmy Fallon that hes got a pair of sunglasses ready for his oldest daughters graduation—just in case he cant stop the tears.

“I think Malia ... is very eager to get out of the White House，” he added about her upcoming milestone and his exit from the Oval2 early next year.

During her four years at the private Washington high school， Malia played soccer and tennis， practiced the flute and the piano. Also， she studied a handful of subjects， including Spanish—which was evident during the familys recent trip to Cuba， where she acted as an interpreter for her father. President Obama told ABC News that his daughters Spanish is “much better” than his own.

While Malia may be crossing the commencement3 stage out of the public eye， the President has spoken candidly—and emotionally—about what its like to have his oldest daughter leaving the nest.

“My daughter leaving me is just breaking my heart，” the president said in a speech at an Indiana high school.

“If there are any parents here， I hope you can give me some pointers on how not to cry too much at the ceremony and embarrass her.”

And in March， the president reflected sentimentally on the familys White House adventure. “When I was first elected to this office， Malia was 10 and Sasha was just 7，” he said. “And they grew up too fast. This fall， Malia heads off to college. And Im starting to choke up.”

Although President Obama brought up Malias impending4 college semester， a May statement from the White House revealed that the teenager will take a gap year before she follows in her fathers footsteps and attends Harvard in the fall of 2017.

Before committing to the Ivy League school， Malia reportedly toured several other top universities， including her mothers alma mater5， Princeton. The President said he reminded his daughter not to get hung up on a name.

“One piece of advice that Ive given her is not to stress too much about having to get into one particular college，” he said during a town hall on college affordability6. “There are a lot of good colleges and universities out there. Just because its not some name-brand， famous， fancy school doesnt mean that youre not going to get a great education there.”

玛利亚·奥巴马在公众的视线中长大，但是接下来她要走的一大步却鲜有人知了。

这位17岁的“第一女儿”，在华盛顿特区的私立萨德维尔朋友学校毕业，她的父母决定参加并为她喝彩——就像别的父母一样流下自豪、动情的眼泪。一位白宫官员说：白宫记者没有发布新闻报道，也没有向全球播放的照片。奥巴马一家“将此视为私人的家庭时间”。

她的父母都没有在毕业典礼上发表演讲的打算。

奥巴马出现在《今晚秀》节目中，并告诉主持人杰米·弗伦：他已经为大女儿的毕业典礼准备好了一副墨镜，防止自己忍不住流眼泪。

在谈及玛利亚即将到来的里程碑和奥巴马自己明年早些时候隐退椭圆形办公室时，奥巴马补充道：“我觉得玛利亚很渴望走出白宫。”

在私立华盛顿中学的四年里，玛利亚踢足球、打网球、练长笛和钢琴。她也学了其他一些课程，包括西班牙语——这在奥巴马全家最近的古巴之旅中尤为明显，在那里，玛利亚充当了他父亲的翻译。奥巴马告诉ABC新闻他女儿的西班牙语比他自己的“好很多”。

当大女儿玛利亚开始退出公众视线，离开“鸟巢”时，奥巴马坦率、动情地谈起了这种感受：

“女儿要离开我了，这令我很伤感。”奥巴马在印第安纳州一所中学演讲中说道。

“如果这里有家长在，我希望你们能给我一些指点，让我在女儿毕业典礼的时候不至于哭得太厉害，以免令她尴尬。”

3月份时，奥巴马动情地回忆起一家人的白宫历程，“当我首次当选的时候，玛利亚10岁，萨莎才7岁。她们长得太快。这个秋天，玛利亚将上大学，我哽咽了。”

尽管奥巴马谈到了女儿日益临近的大学生涯，5月份白宫的一项声明显示：在2017年秋天，像他父亲那样，在进入哈佛大学之前，玛利亚将有一段“间隔年”时间。

在向常青藤盟校提交申请之前，媒体报道玛利亚访问了其他几所顶尖大学，包括她母亲的母校——普林斯顿大学。奥巴马说道：他提醒过自己的女儿不要太过于在乎学校的名声。

在一次关于大学费用的市政厅讲话时，奥巴马说：“我给了女儿一条建议，不要太在乎进入某所大学，这里有很多好的大学。非名牌、名气不响的学校并不意味着你在那里得不到好的教育。”