White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of one of the most powerful clubs in America.

  • Home
  • About
  • WHC Brunch
  • Washington Insider
  • Archives

EXCLUSIVE: WHC Insider Interviews Special Assistant to the President Ellie Schafer

March 31, 2016 By Christian Conner

Each year the White House Easter Egg Roll extravaganza brings together visitors from around the nation to spend the day on the South Lawn of the White House with the president, first lady, musicians, celebrities, and athletes. This year the White House hosted over 35,000 people for the event which featured performances from Idina Menzel, the first-ever fun run at the White House with First Lady Michelle Obama, a friendly game of basketball between Shaquille O’Neill and President Barack Obama, story time with the cast of Black-ish, and appearances from Beyonce, Jay-Z, and their daughter, Blue Ivy. Behind the scenes of the entire operation is Ellie Schafer, Special Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Visitor’s Center.

According to Ms. Schafer who joined the Obama campaign in 2007, First Lady Michelle Obama “gave me some pretty specific instructions, the first one was, we wanna make sure that it’s very family friendly, focused on a lot of fun activities for the kids. We have sports, we have reading, we have a main stage, things that people have never seen before.”

The Obamas have made clear they wanted to turn 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into the People’s House from the beginning. “When Barack and I first got here, one of the goals that we had was to open up the White House to as many people from as many backgrounds as possible.” With the help of, the Obamas were able to accomplish that goal. To do it, they decided to use a lottery system for handing out tickets to the Egg Roll. The result? Visitors came to the White House from all 50 states, from all kinds backgrounds and cultures, making this event one of the most diverse in White House history.

Tommy McFly, radio host and MC of the Easter Egg Roll, says Schafer “has 35,000 guests, A-level stars, and the leader of the free world and his wife roaming around but she is just always cool and calm. Everybody else who is part of the crew feels that too.”

Ms. Schafer comes from a Republican family. Her father Ed Schafer was President George W. Bush’s  Secretary of Agriculture and former governor of North Dakota. She is a former aide to John Kerry’s presidential campaign and ran her own political consulting company in San Francisco before joining up with then Senator Obama.  She is married to Heather Rothenberg, a former Transportation Department highway specialist.

This is the last Easter Egg Roll for the Obama family. Michelle Obama, speaking to the crowd said, “Today is a little bit bittersweet for us, because this is the Obama administration’s last Easter Egg Roll.” Schafer teared up as she surveyed the lawn watching families head towards the gates at the end of the final Obama Easter Egg Roll.

Filed Under: Event Coverage, The White House Tagged With: Ellie Schafer, White House, White House Easter Egg Roll

White House Easter Egg Roll Has POTUS and K-POTUS Switch Desks

April 1, 2013 By WHC Insider

While everyone is enjoying a rather foggy morning in Washington, there’s a distinct lack of “fool” for today’s April Fool’s. The St. “Patty”‘s Day equivalent of pranking folks and generally making the Internet unreliable doesn’t occur often inside the Beltway. Except President Obama has seemed to take a shine to Robby “Kid President” Novak as Click points out:

The diminutive POTUS replacement showed up to make the formal announcement for the 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll back in February. Today he’s one of many special guests including Beasts of the Southern Wild‘s Quvenzhané Wallis, NASCAR’s Danica Patrick, Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson, Elmo, Abby, Gordon and Rosita from Sesame Street, the full cast of Super Sprowtz and pop group The Wanted.

There’s also an “Eggtivity Zone” that ” will represent the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition as players and coaches from professional sports teams teach kids how to play sports and show kids easy, fun ways to stay active and fit.” Eggsciting.

They’ll also be a bevy of costumed characters running around the White House lawn throughout the day. According to the White House, more than 300,000 Washington residents can be expected to attend throughout the day. So hopefully you’ve got your ticket and are already in line–we hear POTUS is showing up early to make an appearance. No fooling.

Filed Under: DC, Entertainment, Washington Events Tagged With: Adrian Peterson, Barack Obama, Easter Egg Roll, Elmo, Events, Kid President, Qvenzhané Wallis, Robby Novak, Seasme Street, Washington, White House Easter Egg Roll, YouTube

Kid President Announces This Year's White House Easter Egg Roll

February 21, 2013 By WHC Insider


If the Obama administration ever had a clear challenge, it may be overcoming the charm and charisma of Kid President. A part of the Soul Pancake Channel, this time Kid President is bringing word of the 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll to us through a somewhat more official channel:

The lottery to get a ticket for the annual roll, being held on April 1, starts today and closes on Monday, February 25. The theme this year, chosen by First Lady Michelle Obama, is “Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!”

This year’s souvenir eggs come in four bold colors – purple, blue, yellow, pink – and include the stamped signatures of the President and First Lady. A commemorative teal “Bo” egg featuring the First Dog’s paw print is included only in the 2013 5-pack Collector’s Egg Set.

The White House also invites all elementary and middle school students to submit poster designs for the 2013 Easter Egg Roll. Designs should reflect this year’s theme, “Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!” The First Lady will select the winning design, which will be used as part of the White House 2013 Easter Egg Roll program. Submissions are due by March 5 and can be sent here.

We have to admit, even Robert Frost would probably be allowed to think this is cool.

Filed Under: Causes, DC, Entertainment, News Tagged With: Barack Obama, Causes, DC, Entertainment, Kid President, Video, White House Easter Egg Roll

“Let’s Go, Let’s Play, Let’s Move” at the White House Easter Egg Roll

April 7, 2012 By WHC Insider

Put down that basket of candy and join President and Mrs. Obama and 30,000 people from all 50 states at the 134th annual White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday April 9.

Promoting health and wellness, this year’s theme is “Let’s Go, Let’s Play, Let’s Move!” to encourage kids to get up and move and lead healthier and more active lives.

Tickets have already been distributed, but you can watch all the action live at  WhiteHouse.gov/live.

In addition to the actual Easter egg roll, you can catch Rachel Crow singing the National Anthem, actress Julianne Moore reading to the kids, chefs cooking healthy and yummy dishes, US Olympian gymnast Dominique Dawes and NFL Star Antwaan Randle El leading the kids in the Eggtivity Zone Obstacle Course, Charlie Brown, the Power Rangers and other costume characters and much more!

Here are some pictures from last year’s Easter Egg Roll.

Filed Under: The White House, Washington Events Tagged With: Antwaan Randle E, Dominique Dawes, Julianne Moore, Michelle Obama, President Obama, Rachel Crow, White House Easter Egg Roll

About White House Correspondents Insider

Exploring “behind the scenes” of the most powerful reporters and editors in the world, the Washington press corps. We track the White House Correspondents’ weekend and all the activities around it from journalists and media companies to the White House and politicos. Tammy Haddad is Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of WHC Insider and she hosts the Washington Insider podcast.

White House Correspondents Insider is not affiliated with or approved by the White House Correspondents Association which is a registered trademark of the WHCA.

Signup for Email Updates

Fill out my online form.

2020 WHC Weekend Countdown

days
0
-26
-6
hours
-2
-3
minutes
-4
0
seconds
-1
-2

Garden Brunch 2019

Search WHCInsider

Connect

Washington Insider Podcast

GANG of 600: Washington’s top power players who influence politics, policy, journalism and technology

Tweets from https://twitter.com/whcinsider/gang-of-600

Copyright © White House Correspondents Insider