A Hartland middle school student has been named a National Geographic State Bee semi-finalist.

8th Grader Noah Losert from Ore Creek Middle School, who is pictured on left, has been notified by the National Geographic Society that he is one of the semi-finalists eligible to compete in the 2018 Michigan National Geographic State Bee. The contest will be held in the Fetzer Center at Western Michigan University on Friday, April 6th. This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is now in its 30th year.

School bees were held in schools with 4th through 8th grade students throughout the state to determine each school champion. School champions then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society.
The National Geographic Society has invited up to 100 of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete in the State Bees.

To celebrate, the cash prize for the top three students in each state has doubled. Each state champion will receive $200, the National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World, 2nd Edition and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent their state in the National Geographic Bee Championship to be held at National Geographic Society headquarters, May 20-23, 2018. Students that come in second place will receive $150 and those that come in third will receive $100. The first-place national champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the society, including a subscription to National Geographic magazine, and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the new National Geographic Endeavour ll. Travel for the trip is provided by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. Second- and third-place finishers will receive $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships, respectively.

National Geographic will stream the final round of the National Geographic Bee Championship starting May 24th. (JM)