BATON ROUGE, La. – A full scholarship to LSU awaits 14-year-old spelling bee champion Zaila Avant-garde, according to FOX 8.
LSU President William F. Tate took to social media Saturday to offer the young winner a full ride while praising her intellectual excellence.
Recommended Videos
Zaila, from Harvey, La., is the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion and the first Louisiana native to win the event.
The 14-year-old correctly spelled the word murraya.
Zaila Avant-garde @basketballasart performed at the highest level in the National Spelling Bee. 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! pic.twitter.com/LopV3bdeWI
— William F. Tate IV (@WFTate4) July 10, 2021
Avant-garde is also a basketball star as well who has appeared in a commercial with Stephen Curry and owns three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple balls simultaneously. She also hopes to play in the WNBA someday.
The New Orleans Saints and Pelicans also offered their congratulations to the Louisiana native.
A hooper too! 🏀
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) July 9, 2021
Congrats Zaila 🏆 #SpellingBee https://t.co/3rAgG0hgyG pic.twitter.com/V3XjgL2aCo