APTOPIX Spelling Bee
Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (77WABC) — 14-year-old Zaila Avant-Garde of Louisiana became the nation’s first African American winner at the Scripps National Spelling Bee last night correctly spelling the winning word “Murraya.”
If you are wondering just what “Murraya” means, it is a genus of tropic Asiatic and Australian trees.
She won $50,000 and was congratulated by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
Avant-Guard is only the second Black champion in the bee’s 96-year history after Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica in 1998.
Zaila said spelling is a side hobby, though she routinely practiced seven hours daily.
Spelling is not her only talent. Zaila is a basketball prodigy, and hopes to play in the WNBA . She holds three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple balls simultaneously.
