Beaverhead County Spelling Bee Will Be Held January 24th

The Beaverhead County Courthouse will play host for the 2024 Beaverhead County Spelling Bee. Elementary and middle school spellers from around the county on will convene on Wednesday, January 24 at 1:30p in the courtroom upstairs in the Courthouse. Students from all the grade schools, plus those from Dillon Middle School and local home schools will contend for a trip to the Treasure State Spelling Bee on March 9th in Bozeman.

County Superintendent of Schools Mike Miller is serving as the director for this year’s contest.

“The six rural schools, Lima’s Elementary School, the area home ‘schoolers’, and the schools here in Dillon have all been invited to send spellers to challenge for a trip to Bozeman in March,” said Miller. “We may have as many as 30 area spellers entered in the contest this year, although some schools may choose not to take part.”

Trophies for the top two spellers and certificates for all participants will be presented at the conclusion of the event along with donations from local financial institutions to help defray the costs for travel to Bozeman. Three local judges (Jamie Flynn, Deborah McCabe, and Dr. Katrina Kennett) have volunteered, and Dr. Laura Straus, an Education Department professor from the University of Montana Western will be pronouncing the words.

The Treasure State Spelling Bee, now in its 59th year, is conducted along the rules of the Scripps National Spelling Bee organization which furnishes the spelling list used at local and state spelling bees. “At least one speller from each county can be entered in the state bee, while counties with much larger population are allowed more spellers. But it is expected that 60 spellers will converge on the campus of Montana State University at the Strand Ballroom for this year’s contest,” reported Miller. Only students from schools which are enrolled in the National Scripps organization are eligible to participate in the state bee, although registration is not required for the county bee.

The Montana Television Network sponsors the event and local journalists will serve as judges.