Malia, eldest daughter of the U.S. President Barack Obama, finished high school on Friday. It was a major milestone that her parents tried to hide from media glare. Still, it could not avoid some share of the spotlight.
Secret Service put up some magnetometers so that the attendees could be screened at the private high school Sidwell Friends in Washington DC.
The family's motorcade had sped through Washington to reach the school. The White House press was kept away and could not see Malia at all. But the social media was full of the news.
Obama declined to speak, but admitted that "he has been dreading this day". He had quipped that sunglasses would have camouflaged his tears.
"He was just a total dad," the mother of a graduating senior said of the president. "No fanfare. You didn't know they were there."
The ceremony was followed by Obama's family lunch at Café Milano, a Georgetown restaurant.
Malia has expressed interest in film and television, explaining that she would attend Harvard University but would take a "gap year" study break.
Though both his daughters have enjoyed a privileged childhood, they have managed to hold their fort well, said President Obama. At Jimmy Fallon's NBC "The Tonight Show" he explained that Malia was "very eager to get out" of the White House.
The 17-year-old Malia was brought up in a protected White House "bubble". She had always found reporters following her father, while her mother, Michelle, was also in the public gaze.
While their parents have tried their best to shield their daughters from the public eye, the sisters have been found at some rare events, such as when they shared jokes and vacations with Obama in Hawaii.
"When I was first elected to this office, Malia was 10 and Sasha was just seven. And they grow up too fast," Obama said earlier this year. "I'm starting to choke up."
He gave complete credit for their upbringing to Michelle and her mother Marian Robinson, who lives with them at the White House. "They are wonderful girls. They are smart and funny. But most importantly, they're kind. They don't have an attitude," Obama said.
Meanwhile, the family will remain at Washington, D.C. even after January, so that Sasha, who turned 15 on Friday, can complete her schooling at Sidwell Friends.
"The idea of her having to transfer schools, move to a new city halfway through high school, would not make me popular," Obama confessed on "The Tonight Show."
