Story at a glance
- A Louisiana teenager has made history becoming the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night.
- Fourteen-year-old Zaila Avant-garde clinched the historical win spelling her final word “Murraya.”
- Avant-garde also holds three Guinness world records for her ability to dribble multiple basketballs simultaneously.
History: h-i-s-t-o-r-y. A Louisiana teenager has made history becoming the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night.
Fourteen-year-old Zaila Avant-garde clinched the historical win spelling her final word “Murraya,” which is a genus of tropical, flowering Asiatic and Australian trees.
“I was pretty relaxed on the subject of ‘Murraya’ and pretty much any other word I got,” Avant-garde told The Associated Press (AP).
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After being announced the winner, Avant-garde did a twirl on the stage with a smile plastered on her face.
Though Avant-garde is now a spelling bee champion, she also holds three Guinness world records for her ability to dribble multiple basketballs simultaneously. She told the AP she hopes to one day play for the WNBA or coach for the NBA.
Avant-garde is the first Black winner of the spelling bee since Jamaica’s Jody-Anne Maxwell won in 1998.
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