Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama are in Chicago as preparations continue for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center.
During the visit, President Obama joined in a bit of pickup basketball on the center’s court and also met with children and their families at the new playground in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side.
The center is scheduled to welcome the public on Friday, June 19. In advance of the opening, road closures will begin Monday, affecting portions of Midway Plaisance and Stony Island.
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Michelle Obama is also taking part in events leading up to the launch, with an appearance planned for Thursday, June 18.
On Sunday, she recorded a podcast conversation with Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson in front of an audience that included a group of young girls.
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It was a full-circle moment inside the Obama Presidential Center as Michelle Obama returned to her roots, connecting with the next generation of young women and reminding them what’s possible.
Before the world knew her name, Michelle Obama was a young girl growing up on Chicago’s South Side.
“I grew up right in South Shore, went to Whitney Young, had a strong neighborhood community,” she said.
The former first lady says she found her voice in that community. Now, as the South Side prepares to open the Obama Presidential Center, she’s back home, helping the next generation find theirs.
On Sunday, 100 young women, part of the Girls Opportunity Alliance Network, were given a private audience with the former first lady, her brother Craig Robinson and Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson inside the center’s Elie Wiesel Auditorium.
The young women got their own question-and-answer session with the panel. Madison O’Shields, a rising sophomore at Spelman College, asked the first question.
“Who was your Michelle Obama?” O’Shields asked.
“My biggest mentors were the people I saw every day,” Obama replied.
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“She’s really humble in the position and the power that she holds, so it was an amazing experience to be able to hear from her,” University of Illinois student Kari Mack said.
O’Shields and Mack are both South Side natives. For them, this moment held a deeper meaning – not just a sit-down with the former first lady, but a chance to hear from someone who grew up just like they did.
“I couldn’t stop staring,” Mack said. “You’re in awe to be in the presence of someone who has continuously made an impact.”
“Everything that they said today was so, so insightful,” O’Shields said. “She really reminded me to just take it one step at a time, one day at a time.”
In answering O’Shields’ question, Michelle Obama said she owes her success to her roots-and to those who grounded her.
“I have lived an amazing life, but the truth is who matters to me, who shaped me, is Marian Robinson from the South Side of Chicago,” Obama said.
READ MORE | Marian Robinson, mother of former first lady Michelle Obama, dies at 86
The young women describing the experience as a powerful and reflective conversation, one where many of them felt seen in the answers to their questions.
And as the Obama Presidential Center prepares to open in Jackson Park, they say they’re walking away with something lasting: a renewed sense of their future.
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