MONTEREY — Until interim superintendent Loretta Blankenstein called his name, Monterey School student Dathan Trant said he thought his District Student of the Year award was a joke.

“I thought they were just having a laugh at me,” said the 11-year-old fifth grader. “I was amazed — I thought my cousin was going to win for sure.”

Trant was one of three Concordia Parish students who got to participate in the regionals in Winnsboro. Jodee Trant, his mom, said they had an accident on the way.

“We ended up in the ditch,” she said. “I was trying to avoid a dog.”

But she called her older son, and he was able to get them back on the road to the event. Dathan was interviewed and had to write an essay — he chose Joyce Meyer — on location.

“He was so calm about it — I would have been very nervous about that not considering the accident,” Jodee said. “It was just a great experience, even if he doesn’t place. For a fifth grader to go in and off the cuff be able to express himself was a wonderful experience.”

While he wishes more art programs existed, Dathan said overall he enjoys being at Monterey High School.

“It’s a great school,” he said. “I love all of my teachers. This isn’t like a big city school — I know almost everyone here, all the way up to the high school.

“By the end of summer, I start getting a little bored because I don’t see my friends. So, those first few weeks of school I’m very excited because I get to see everyone.”

Part of the family feeling at Monterey School is literal — his mother is a teacher at the junior high.

“That’s really nice,” he said. “If I forget something, I can go get it from her. If there’s a bully, she knows everyone and can help.”

Dathan said he takes his grades very seriously.

“I’ve made mostly As, and I get mad when I make a B,” he said.

Jodee said he does sometimes get frustrated with those Bs.

“That’s all him — I don’t want to put too much pressure on him,” she said. “As long as I know he is doing his best and that he was fully applying himself, I know that sometimes your best is a B.”

Science and math are Dathan’s favorite courses.

“I like to be able to do hands-on experiments with reactions, and it’s one of my best subjects,” Dathan said of science. “Last year our teacher gave us a science project at the end of the year and mine was the Mentos in Coke explosion.

“You dropped the Mentos into the bottle and its reaction with carbon dioxide would make the Coke shoot up and out of the bottle.”

Outside of school, Dathan likes to play his XBOX and make money.

“I like to help my mom and dad outside — our dogs make a mess,” he said. “My brother is paying me right now to go outside and do his work, so I’m washing the tires and rims on the truck.”

The experience of having competed on the regional level will be great for Dathan come junior high, his mom said.

“It’ll give him a little boost on how important it is to continue to do well,” Jodee said. “I know in the junior high years, sometimes that motivation seems to dwindle.

“It teaches him to keep striving.”