If your last name was Avant-garde, you would be expected to have some cutting-edge skills.
Well, Zaila Avant-garde certainly qualifies.
The 14-year-old became the first Black champion in the 93-year history of the Scripps Spelling Bee, winning the annual event Thursday night by correctly spelling “Murraya,” which is defined as “a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves and flowers with imbricated petals.”
If you say so.
But beyond her historic victory, Avant-garde’s skillset is far beyond “remember I before E except after C and when it makes the sound of ‘a’ as in neighbor or weigh.”