Zaila Avant-garde’s record breaking win at the Scripps National Spelling Bee has earned her a full ride scholarship to Louisiana State University. Impressed by the level of intelligence displayed during the contest, the college’s president, William F. Tate IV, took to Twitter over the weekend to announce the exciting news.
“Zaila Avant-garde @basketballasart performed at the highest level in the National Spelling Bee,” he wrote on Saturday (July 10). “Your academic performance reflected scholarship first! You modeled intellectual excellence. @LSU_Honors awaits. I write to offer you a full scholarship to attend LSU. Here for you!”
Days before her college offer, Avant-garde made headlines for her history-making victory at the 90th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Her correct spelling of the word “murraya” instantly went viral alongside congratulatory posts from the likes of LeBron James, Barack Obama and others who praised her for becoming the first African American to win the competition.
While fans celebrated the teen’s Black girl magic, many noticed that she is a woman of many talents. As REVOLT previously reported, Avant-garde holds three Guinness World Records related to her skills in basketball: one for most bounces of four basketballs in 30 seconds, another for most bounce juggles in one minute, and the third for most basketballs dribbled at once. The sport, she previously explained, is actually her main focus as her plans are to attend Harvard University and potentially become an NBA basketball coach.
Per an interview with CNN, Avant-garde is also thinking about a career in neuroscience, gene editing and even has interest in working for NASA, who recently expressed their desire to have her on board. “The word is ‘star.’ Definition: Zaila Avant-garde. Congratulations on your amazing #SpellingBee win, @BasketballAsArt,” NASA tweeted. “We hope you’ll join the NASA family one day!”
See the tweet from LSU’s president and NASA below.