14-Year-Old Louisiana Girl Wins Prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee

A 14-year-old girl from Louisiana made history Thursday (July 9) when she became the first African American contestant to win the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee it is 93-year history.

Zaila Avant-garde, from Harvey, is a girl of many talents. She has been nationally recognized for her skills on the basketball court, even holding three Guinness World Records for dribbling, FOX 8 reports, but now she is known for her spectacular run during the 2021 Spelling Bee.

After being faced with tough words like querimonious, solidungulate and Nepeta, she was given her final word to clinch the competition: Murraya.

Avant-garde asked only a few questions about the word, which is a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees, before spelling it, inquiring about language of origin or if it is similar to comedian Bill Murray. She nailed the spelling and, with a joyous twirl, celebrated the moment she had been waiting for.

Watch her winning moment below.

"It felt really good to win because I have been working on it for like two years. So to actually win the whole thing was like a dream come true," she told CNN. "I felt like in the moment I snapped out of a surreal dream."

Gov. John Bel Edwards took to Twitter Thursday night to congratulate the Louisiana teen after her win.

"Congratulations to Zaila Avant-garde on winning the Scripps National #SpellingBee," he wrote. "You have made all of Louisiana P-R-O-U-D."

Years of studying and long days of practicing all culminated in the moment she won the bee and claimed the $50,000 prize. Now that she's won, she plans to take a step back.

"I kind of thought I would never be into spelling again, but I'm also happy that I'm going to make a clean break from it," she said. "I can go out, like my Guinness World Records, just leave it right there, and walk off."

Avant-garde has incredible plans for her future, hoping to play basketball at Harvard before pursuing a career at NASA or being a coach in the NBA. She may even consider a path in neuroscience or gene editing.