Thunder Mountain Middle School eighth-grade student Alex Beals is a semifinalist in the National Geographic Society’s Washington Geographic Bee.

Bees took place in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school’s Geographic Bee winner. School-level winners then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. In each of the 50 states, along with the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools and the United States territories, the National Geographic Society invited the students with the top 100 scores to compete at the state level.

Beals will compete in Washington state’s contest Friday at Pacific Lutheran University.

To earn his place, Beals had to answer questions like:

• An outline of the Great Lakes appears on the quarter of which state that borders four of the five lakes – Michigan or North Dakota? Answer: Michigan.

• Which city is located on a peninsula – Cincinnati, Ohio, or Dover, Delaware? Answer: Dover.

• The city of Bangalore, located west of the Eastern Ghats, is a fast-growing technology hub in what country? Answer: India.

• The International Red Cross has its headquarters in a city that shares its name with a large lake on the boarder between Switzerland and France. Name this city. Answer: Geneva.

The state winner will receive $100, “The Complete National Geographic on DVD,” and a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the finals in May.