President Barack Obama received a warm welcome for his speech in the Kotzebue high school gym on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015.
Millie Hawley, president of the tribal government in Kivalina, introduced Obama before he appeared in the gym, a symbolic gesture that Hawley said was "exhilarating."
"It means to me he's paying attention to the issues around climate change," she said. "With the things he heard from his team and other tribal leaders it shows that he's listening to our concerns and is addressing them and that gives me a lot of hope."