Montana Six Year-Old Wows White House With Climate Change Video – High Fives President
It's not often that a six year-old boy from Montana gets a high-five from the President of the United States, but that was the case on Friday, as young Noah Gue visited the People's House for the annual White House Student Film Festival.
Noah, who lives in Bozeman with his mom, dad and little brother, put together a three minute video decrying how the climate has changed in his beloved Glacier National Park. Noah's dad, Michael and mom, Amy, both hail from Missoula. Michael is a wildland firefighter, while the former Amy Larson is a renowned nature photographer.
KGVO News spoke with Michael Gue on the phone at about 11 p.m. Eastern time Friday night in their hotel room, after Noah had crashed for the night. After all, the young man had had a very big day.
"Noah was all smiles, ear to ear," Gue said. "He got to meet the President! I never thought my first trip to the White House would be an invitation through my six year-old, but yeah. He spent the day with President Obama and featured one of his films that he put together for the White House Student Film Festival."
Gue described how he and his wife, Amy, got Noah interested in telling stories through video.
"I'm a wildland firefighter and I've been talking about the frequency and intensity of wildfires over the years, while my wife has been taking Noah all over Montana photographing wildlife and how climate change has affected the various animals in the area. So, about a year ago, when Noah was five, the White House was asking kids from K-12 to submit a short video of a project they were working on. I asked Noah if he wanted to do it, and he said yes, so we put together a short, three minute film documenting some of the beauty we have right there in Montana with Glacier and Yellowstone Parks. We submitted it, and about a month later, we got a call saying he was a finalist, and they wanted to invite him to the White House so he could show his film in the East Room."
President Obama wasn't the only luminary that sought out a photo with Noah.
"He got a selfie with Hillary Swank and several members of the cast of Scandal," Gue said. "Hillary told Noah that she only made 'R" rated movies, so it would be a while before he could watch one," he laughed. "All this went right over Noah's head, of course."
Gue shared one of his proudest moments of the evening at the White House.
"One of the proudest moments I had, was him standing next to the Environmental Advisor to the White House," Gue said. "Noah talked to her about climate change and how it's affecting Montana, and he was just beaming from ear to ear. It's so great to see my six year-old have an impact on climate change and the environment of my home state of Montana."
The Gue's returned home to Montana on Saturday, but not without a lifetime's worth of memories of a trip to the White House and sharing a high-five with the President of the United States.
But, Michael did comment...where does Noah go from here? With his new-found contacts in Hollywood and Washington, D.C...there's not much to worry about for Noah's future.
(Photos on YouTube video courtesy of Facebook, Instagram, Dan Johnson, and White House Student Film Festival)