BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — Monday kicks off The North Dakota State Spelling Bee, which consists of three levels of competition: school, county, and state.

The State Spelling Bee took place at the Bismarck Event Center on Monday and hosted 93 students from 48 counties in the state who all came to compete. Out of those 93 students, 26 of them went on to the final oral round.

Reporter Taylor Aasen met with the State Spelling Bee Director, Miranda Streifel to talk more about the spelling bee. Streifel said that Spelling Bees are important for our students.

“It’s important to have good spelling,” Streifel stated. “We can’t just rely on technology to give us the answers. The better you are at spelling and decoding words, it can also help decipher new vocabulary words. Vocabulary is very important for everyone in reading, writing, and just everyday life.”

The winner of the North Dakota State Spelling Bee was Luna Gasevic, and in second place was Chinmay Gopi. Both are from Cass County, and also took first and second place last year at the State Spelling Bee.

Gasevic will also go on to Washington D.C. to take part in the National Spelling Bee at the end of May.