Spelling Bee history-maker Zaila Avant-garde receives full LSU scholarship offer
After becoming the first Black American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee last week, Zaila Avant-garde has bagged another honour: a full scholarship offer to Louisiana State University.
“Your academic performance reflected scholarship first! You modelled intellectual excellence,” LSU President William F. Tate IV said in a Saturday tweet.“@LSU_Honors awaits. I write to offer you a full scholarship to attend LSU. Here for you!”
The teenager made an appearance at the ESPY Awards in New York City on Saturday and told reporters that she’s still quite stunned by her historic spelling bee win.
“I’m feeling pretty good. I still can’t quite believe that I won Scripps National Spelling Bee, so I’m still waiting for that to settle in. I guess my weekend is gonna get even more exciting when I realize.”
Avant-garde made history on Thursday when she became the first Black American winner in the 96-year history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The 14-year-old basketball prodigy from Harvey, Louisiana, breezed to the championship. The only previous Black winner was also the only Black champion from outside the United States: Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica in 1998.
“I’m hoping that within the next few years, I can see a little bit of an influx of African Americans, and [there are] not many Hispanic people, either, so I’m hoping to see them there, too,” Avant-garde said.
She competed against 208 other contestants from five countries and leapt with excitement after spelling the winning word “murraya,” a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees.
Former American President Barack Obama took to Twitter on Friday morning to celebrate the teen’s accomplishment.
Three Guinness World Records and now the national spelling bee champ! Congrats, Zaila—your hard work is paying off. We’re all proud of you. https://t.co/UaYoRMGirZ— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 9, 2021
Former First Lady Michelle Obama shared a video of Avant-garde on Twitter and wrote,
Yes, Zaila! We are so, so proud of you! 👏🏾
pic.twitter.com/rp0gI4B5BE— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) July 9, 2021
Zaila has described spelling as a side hobby, although she routinely practised for seven hours a day. She is a basketball standout who hopes to play someday in the WNBA and holds three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple balls simultaneously.
Avant-garde told CNN that she hopes to play basketball at Harvard University or work at NASA.
“I want to inspire everybody, especially African-Americans girls,” she told People after her big win.
“I like working with NASA and doing gene editing,” she added. “I have a lot of different things I’m interested in.”
