--- title: President Barack Obama Prom Photos description: These previously unpublished photos show a 17-year-old Barack Obama on the night of his senior prom. canonical: https://time.com/4355622/obama-prom-photos/ author: Adam Sorensen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-05-23T18:56:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T08:52:14.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Celebrate Prom Season With These Exclusive President Obama Prom Pics og:description: Direct from 1979, it's the 44th President on prom night og:url: https://time.com/4355622/obama-prom-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc088a1bf82df9c27/69889612cf40a83bbcc437b6/obama_prom_photos_0011.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Barack Obama in an exclusive prom photo. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Celebrate Prom Season With These Exclusive President Obama Prom Pics twitter:description: Direct from 1979, it's the 44th President on prom night twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc088a1bf82df9c27/69889612cf40a83bbcc437b6/obama_prom_photos_0011.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # TIME Exclusive: President Obama’s 1979 Prom Photos > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Adam Sorensen](https://time.com/author/adam-sorensen/) ## Adam Sorensen Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:52 AM UTCPublished: May 23, 2013 6:56 PM UTC  From left: Greg Orme, Kelli Allman, Barack Obama and Megan Hughes at Allman’s parents’ house in Honolulu. From left: Greg Orme, Kelli Allman, Barack Obama and Megan Hughes at Allman’s parents’ house in Honolulu. Kelli Allman / Contact Press Images by [Adam Sorensen](https://time.com/author/adam-sorensen/) ## Adam Sorensen Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:52 AM UTCPublished: May 23, 2013 6:56 PM UTC _This article originally appeared in the May 23, 2013 edition of TIME_ [_magazine_](http://www.time.com/time/magazine) _underneath the title, “Obama’s Grand Old Party.” To subscribe to_ TIME,[_click here_](https://subscription.time.com/storefront/subscribe-to-time/site/td-mvmutliaa0413.html?link=1004496)_._ Tucked away in someone else’s shoe box of adolescent artifacts, there might be a picture of you in garish clothes and with an outdated ‘do, your arm around a high school squeeze. The President of the United States is no different. These previously unpublished photos, obtained exclusively by TIME from Obama’s schoolmate Kelli Allman (née McCormack), show a 17-year-old Barack Obama on the night of his senior prom. Barry spent his days at the Punahou School in Hawaii studying, shooting hoops and goofing off with his friends. Greg Orme, a fellow varsity basketball player, was Obama’s constant companion. “They were like brothers,” says Allman. On prom night, the pair double-dated. Obama and his date Megan Hughes, a student at the Hawaii School for Girls at La Pietra, joined Orme at Allman’s house, where the two couples sipped champagne before going to the dance and then an after-party. “It was a really fun, happy time. We were all cracking up, and everyone was smiling,” says Allman. “It was pretty typical from there out as far as what happens at prom: the dinner and the dancing and the photos.” Millions of American teenagers will go to proms this year. Their photos are more likely to be stored on Facebook than in a shoe box. But it’s fun to imagine that in one of those pictures, there’s a girl in a pastel dress or a lanky guy in a white sport coat who will end up becoming the leader of the free world.  Left: Kelli Allman‘s OAHUAN 1979 Yearbook. Right: Obama wrote the above note in Allman’s yearbook at the end of his senior year in 1979. Kelli Allman / Contact Press Images  From left: Greg Orme, Kelli Allman, Barack Obama and Megan Hughes at Allman’s parents’ house in Honolulu. 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