Sanctuary Sam and an adoring fan.
Photo credit: Matt Dozier, NMSP
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Hi, everyone! Sanctuary Sam the sea lion here, and I wanted to tell you all about my visit to the 2008 White House Easter Egg Roll. What an experience! The theme of this year’s Easter Egg Roll was “ocean conservation,” a topic that is — as you might have guessed — near and dear to my heart. It was such an honor being invited to come to the White House to teach children about the importance of protecting our marine environment!

I arrived at the South Lawn of the White House bright and early on the day of the event with my friends from NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program and Marine Debris Program. They brought lots of cool activity books to hand out to the kids, along with Little Mermaid temporary tattoos and stickers featuring yours truly. While everyone was getting set up at the ocean conservation booth, I went over and got my picture taken with the rest of the mascots (*ahem* — “spokes-characters”). It was all very official.

The gates were set to open at 8 a.m., so we headed over to the entrance to greet the first group of children and parents to arrive. It was so great to see all their smiling faces! I guess they were happy to see me, too, because before I knew it I was shaking hands, giving high-fives and posing for photos left and right. Now I know how the president must feel when he goes out in public!

Speaking of which, after introducing myself to the early-bird egg rollers I made my way over to the center of the lawn to see President Bush and the First Lady speak. They both talked about the importance of marine conservation, and how we all can do our part by helping keep the oceans clean — like I always say, “Don’t trash where you splash!”

After that, a steady stream of families continued to arrive throughout the day, so I decided to hang out around the ocean booth and mingle with the crowd. The kids all seemed to be having a great time, and I’ve never gotten so many hugs in my life! The most rewarding part was talking with these young people about our marine environment (the NOAA folks handled this — for me, it’s mostly about the nodding and barking). Seeing the understanding on their faces when we explained how the choices we make every day can help or hurt the ocean was really something special. I hope I get invited back next year!

White House Easter Egg Roll Highlights Ocean Conservation and Marine Debris Staff from the NOAA Marine Debris Program and National Marine Sanctuary Program represented NOAA on March 24 at the White House Easter Egg Roll. The Council for Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) ocean-themed booth focused on marine debris and included representatives from NOAA, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. NOAA staff worked at the booth distributing a new “Protect our Oceans” activity book for kids. The activity book was developed by the NOAA Marine Debris Program and the National Marine Sanctuary Program. Also, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Web site was highlighted in the CEQ Easter Egg Roll Fact Sheet released by the White House as a great source for information on what we can all do to prevent marine debris. The Easter Egg Roll is an annual event attended by nearly 22,000 children and adults.