BILLINGS — A Billings middle school student is turning a fundraiser into a business, after detailing cars this summer to help raise money for a school trip and seeing a need in the community.
The trip is to Washington, D.C., and will take place in the spring of 2025. It's typically available to eighth graders around the city every year.
Lewis and Clark eighth grader Liam McDermott said he always wanted to go on the trip to experience a brand new place.
"I wanted to go on the D.C. trip to kind of explore things," McDermott, 13, said. "And I've never been on a plane without my parents before and I thought that would be pretty cool."
And while McDermott knew he wanted to be along for the excursion this year, the trip is pricey, and his parents said they wanted him to earn his way there.
"If you're going to do this, you're going to have to help pay for it because this is quite a bit of money," McDermott recalled his parents' words. "So, I knew I needed to figure out a way to make some money."
That's when he came up with the idea to detail cars. Liam said his father does it oftentimes for friends and family, and he was shocked to hear how much professionals charge for the service in the city.
"It just was one of those things where I was like, 'I know how to do this, and maybe I could offer it for cheaper than usual'," McDermott said.
So, that's what McDermott has been up to this summer. He's spent hours deep cleaning the inside and outside of vehicles with the goal of raising half of the $2,000 trip.
"He has really showed me how much of a hard worker he is this summer," McDermott's mother Amber McDermott said Monday. "He reached his goal in like two months."
His mother added that she feared he wouldn't reach the goal and that forcing him to earn the trip was more about principle.
"I just thought it would be a good summer project and something for him to see how much someone has to work to allow him to take this type of trip," Amber said.
Once Liam reached his original goal and saw how popular the service had become, he figured he might as well continue it. But that didn't come without a surprise for his family.
"I didn't see this taking off in the direction it's going," Amber said. "He's building clientele. It's pretty cool to see."
Even Liam was shocked at how well the service has done.
"I thought it was just going to be detailing friends' cars and stuff," Liam said with a laugh. "Then friends told friends and it got bigger and bigger."
And that's why Liam said he plans to do it every summer as a way to make money, hoping to fill a need in his community.
"You can make a good amount of money from this," Liam said. "And there's always cars that need to be detailed."
His mother couldn't be more proud of her son, who said the dedication he's shown has been every parent's dream.
"I mean this is a kid I struggle with to keep his room clean," Amber said. "To see him staying focused on something for four hours at a time, I don't know. I can see the adult in him now and that's pretty impressive."
