Barron Trump graduates: What will Donald Trump's youngest son do now?
The most anticipated high school graduation since the end of the pandemic took place at an exclusive private high school just outside West Palm Beach on Friday morning.
Among the 116 Oxbridge Academy seniors who received their diplomas as members of the Class of 2024 was 18-year-old Barron Trump, the son of Donald and Melania Trump.
The former first couple attended the ceremony, held at the school's football stadium along Military Trail.
While paparazzi still found a way to get video and photos of the graduate and his parents, Oxbridge officials on Tuesday reminded the media and the public that the ceremony at the 54-acre campus was private and by invitation only. The school acknowledged "the heightened interest in this year’s event."
On Friday morning, under partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the high 80s, Barron, like his fellow graduates, walked up to the graduation stage, accepted his diploma, got his picture taken, walked down from the elevated platform, posed for another photo, then went to his seat. The young Trump, wearing a white shirt and blue tie under his Navy blue graduation gown and red stole (the school's colors), stood out even from afar because of his 6-foot-7 height. While a loudspeaker announced the names of the graduates, Barron's name was not announced, likely a decision to avoid any extra attention.
His parents and grandfather were in the stadium's aluminum-seated bleachers, in the front. His father, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, was dressed in his usual blue suit, but this time with a light blue tie instead of his customary red tie. Melania wore a dark blue top with a white skirt and a fashionable straw-like hat. Melania's father, Viktor Knavs, wore a dark blue or black suit and tie.
What do we know about Barron Trump?
While Barron got some attention during his father's presidency, mainly because he was the first son of a president to live in the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr., he has been kept out of the limelight, mainly, it's been reported, because of Melania's protective nature.
So not much has been known about Donald Trump's youngest son. He turned 18 on March 20. He's taller than his father, reported to be 6-foot-3, and is currently living with his parents at Mar-a-Lago, which is in Palm Beach, about 8 miles southeast of Oxbridge Academy.
Many of Barron's half-siblings live in the area. Donald Trump Jr., 46, and Eric, 40, live in Palm Beach County and Ivanka, 42, lives in Miami, about two hours south of West Palm Beach.
What is Oxbridge Academy near West Palm Beach?
When Donald Trump moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as president, Melania and Barron, for a while, stayed in New York so Barron could finish up his school year. He attended Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School in Manhattan. After that, he attended school closer to D.C., at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, about 14 miles from the White House.
Since moving to Palm Beach after his father left the White House, Barron has attended Oxbridge Academy, a college-preparatory school for grades 6-12, where annual tuition is a reported $41,500.
Oxbridge Academy, founded in 2011 by philanthropist William I. Koch, is in an unincorporated area of West Palm Beach, along North Military Trail, not far from the baseball complex where the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros hold spring training. It's also not far from another private school in Palm Beach County, The Benjamin School, where golf legend Tiger Woods' two children attend.
It's not clear if Barron played any varsity sports at Oxbridge Academy as he isn't listed on any rosters, but he loves soccer, according to his father and various reports.
According to Bleacher Report, when Barron was 11 in 2017, he played for the D.C. United U-12 soccer team. He was a midfielder wearing No. 81. D.C. United is part of Major League Soccer.
Barron likes soccer and computers
Donald Trump has also noted Barron is a computer whiz of sorts.
During a CPAC conference in 2022, Donald Trump joked that Barron broke into his locked computer, according to the Independent, and could even help fix Obamacare's website, which suffered from technical glitches when it was first opened to the public.
Trump has said that Barron is “very popular” in school. In a separate interview, he said Barron occasionally offers him political advice.
During a radio interview with the Kayal and Company show on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT in Philadelphia, Donald Trump said Barron advises him from time to time.
“It’s sort of funny. He’ll tell me sometimes, ‘Dad, this is what you have to do,’ ” Trump said on the show this month.
Where will Barron Trump attend college?
Barron most likely will attend college, but no one is sure where that may be.
Donald Trump in the past has said he believed Barron would follow in his footsteps by attending the University of Pennsylvania. There has also been speculation that the young man might choose New York University in Manhattan, where he spent much of his childhood — and lived until his father was sworn in as the 45th president in early 2017.
But according to what Trump has told Newsweek, it looks like Barron is mulling other options now.
“Right now, he’s doing a great job,” Trump told the weekly news magazine. “He has great marks. He’s going to be going to college soon. And we’re looking at some colleges that are different than they were two months ago.”
If he does attend NYU, he wouldn't be the first "famous" person who has gone there. It boasts such attendees as Rudy Giuliani, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Alec Baldwin, Anne Hathaway, Adam Sandler and James Franco.
Will Barron get into politics?
Now that Barron is an adult, the question seems to come up: Will he get into politics?
For three days last week, the answer appeared to be yes.
On May 8, NBC News reported that Barron Trump had been selected as a member of the Florida delegation to this summer's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. As a delegate, he would join his half brothers Donald Jr. and Eric and his half-sister Tiffany in casting votes to officially nominate their father as the GOP's presidential nominee for a third straight time.
But on the evening of May 10, Melania Trump issued a statement saying that while Barron was honored to have been chosen, he was declining the opportunity due to prior commitments. She did not elaborate as to what those commitments might be.
If he follows a century of first-family history, Barron Trump will not be a political player. Other children of presidents, such as Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton, who spent part of their childhood living in the White House, have not pursued political careers.
The exception was the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, Caroline, who served as U.S. ambassador to Australia and Japan.
George W. Bush, the 43rd president, followed his father's footsteps to the White House, but he did not grow up in the presidential mansion. Ditto for his brother, Jeb, who served two terms as governor of Florida and unsuccessfully sought the presidency in 2016.
It was unclear whether Donald Trump would show up to Barron's graduation.
Last month, Donald Trump fumed "that I can't go to my son's graduation" because of his ongoing New York business fraud trial. However, the judge presiding over the case subsequently canceled court on Friday, allowing Trump to attend the graduation.
Later Friday, the former president was scheduled to jet off to Minnesota to speak at a GOP event there that evening.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Barron Trump graduates: Donald, Melania show up at Oxbridge ceremony
