Trout Creek seventh grader Gavin Todd finished in 16th place out of 60 spellers in the Treasure State Bee earlier this month. Todd advanced to the state bee after winning the Sanders County Spelling Bee on March 4.

"My goal was not to get out in the first round," Todd said. He achieved that, and made it through round six before being eliminated on the word penitentiary. "I studied a lot and spelling in something I'm better at," he added.

Todd said the state spelling bee was intimidating. "At first I was nervous and then as the rounds progressed I got used to it." He said he kept his nerves down by spelling other competitors' words in his head while they were competing. "Everyone was nervous," he noted. He also added that when it was his turn to spell a word, he would visualize the word, spell it out in his head, and then spell it for the four judges.

The Treasure State Bee was held in an auditorium on the campus of Montana State University of Bozeman. "It was pretty fun," Todd said. He is originally from Mississippi and said his school was much larger there. He likes the smaller classes and school in Trout Creek.

"I didn't think I'd be able to win the county bee," the Trout Creek student said. First he won the Trout Creek School bee. Then, Trout Creek students took the top two spots in the county bee. Millie Holloway, also a seventh grader, took second in the county. Next year, Todd states that he wants to place even higher in the state bee.