It should come as no surprise that “Murraya” is one of Zaila Avant-garde’s favorite words. After all, spelling the “genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves and flowers with imbricated petals” correctly is what won her the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Another favorite, though, is more obscure – and meaningful, she said, because without it, she might not have made it to the Bee’s big stage: “qashqai,” a migratory Turkic-speaking people, won her another spelling bee and a $10,000 prize to pour into her studies.
“My family struggled,” Zaila said. “I needed to win that bee to continue studying for spelling.”
Her mother, Alma Heard, said the family poured those funds, plus money from monthly child tax credits received during the pandemic, into a tutor to help Zaila perfect the more than 13,000 words she studied to be a champion. The family was “all in,” she said.
“We would have just paid for it on credit,” Heard said of the tutoring. But the win meant they didn’t have to.
Since last summer, Zaila’s life has changed quite a bit. A basketball player who owns multiple basketball-related Guinness World Records, Zaila said some of the past year – including her championship moment – felt like an out-of-body experience. She attended the ESPYs, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, was named the Sports Illustrated SportsKid of the Year and has met celebrities ranging from actor Anthony Mackie to sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson. She’s spent time with Shaquille O’Neal – they share a Louisiana connection – and ran into him at enough events that she said he now recognizes her.
And Zaila is a celebrity herself. The first African-American champion, she said she had people chase her across the street in New York City and had TMZ photographers shoot her, papparazzi style. Things have since calmed down, she said. But Heard said she continues to get accolades and opportunities.
“My child made history. That’s pretty heavy in itself,” Heard said. “She understands that she’s an inspiration.”
Zaila wants to play college basketball – maybe at Harvard – and hopes to be an NBA head coach. She said she’s participating in Girls Who Code and spending time with her three younger brothers, Zwe, Sol and Wonder.
She’s a lot more relaxed at this year’s Bee, she said. Since the 2021 Bee took place virtually and in Orlando, this is the first time Zaila has been back in National Harbor since 2019, when she misspelled “vagaries” to be eliminated.
Then, she said, she wondered if she’d be able to return to the competition. This year, she returned a champion to see a banner with her picture hanging from the ceiling outside the competition ballroom.
“All things come in their own time,” she said.
Zaila credits the Bee with giving her confidence, and said the time she spent drilling crossover dribbles made it easy for her to focus on word lists and studying, even when she started to get tired.
“I’m a word nerd; I’m also a very competitive person,” she said. “I ain’t no quitter. I don’t just give up after the first try.”
Heard said her daughter was a voracious reader as a child, and when she and her husband ran out of books for her to read, they would give Zaila their college textbooks on anthropology and other topics. She never had to push Zaila to study, she said – instead, she had to make her leave the computer.
Her advice to other parents is simple:
“Watch what your child likes and just nourish it,” Heard said. “The magic comes when you support something they feel passionate about.”
As for Zaila, she said she wants everyone in the competition to know that they’ve already succeeded by getting here.
“Remember the fact that if you’re here, you are a winner already,” she said. “I could have used a pleasant reminder that I had to win a spelling bee to be there.”
Presenting the trophy at the Opening Ceremony Monday, Zaila said beforehand that she felt like she had come full circle. She wore the black-and-white hairband she wore to win the Bee to make her Bee Week debut as a champion – the first time she has since winning.
“I was saving it for this,” she said. “I might wear it to my wedding.”