Donia Kashkooli, 13, passed a National Geographic Society exam to advance to the state geography bee to be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 30.

The eighth grader from Langley Middle School will compete to be Washington’s most knowledgeable geographer. The state bee is hosted by Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.

Donia, a Langley resident, studied maps, the CIA’s “World Factbook” and Google Earth for hours to prepare for the LMS geography bee.

The winner from each state, Washington, D.C. the Pacific Territories, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Dependent Schools will then vie for the national championship.

National Geographic Bees are open to students from fourth to eighth grades. Washington state has won five national bees, the most recent in 2007. Last year’s Washington champion was Arjun Kumar, a seventh-grader from Issaquah. Since 1989, only two girls have won the national championship.