Spelling Bee Champ

She’d already set three world records in basketball and shared the record for most basketballs dribbled at once (six). In July 2021, then-14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde added another feather to her cap. She won the Scripps National Spelling Bee! Zaila is the first Black American to win the Bee in its 96-year history.

A group of nine newspapers started the National Spelling Bee in 1925. The contest encouraged kids to learn vocabulary and spelling. A newspaper company called the E.W. Scripps Company took over the Bee in 1941. Scripps canceled contests during World War II and at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But otherwise, the winners of local contests, who can be no older than 15, have gathered for the national finals every year.

Zaila Avant-garde set three world records in basketball. She also tied the record for most basketballs dribbled at once. That was six basketballs! Then she did something else amazing. She won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in July 2021! She was 14 at the time. The Scripps National Spelling Bee began 96 years ago. Zaila is the first Black American to win it.

A group of nine newspapers started the National Spelling Bee in 1925. The contest made kids want to learn new words and how to spell them. A newspaper company called the E.W. Scripps Company took over the Bee in 1941. Scripps canceled some contests during World War II. It also canceled a contest at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the winners of local contests have gathered for the national finals every year otherwise. Each contestant must be 15 years old or younger.

Zaila is from Louisiana. She started spelling competitively in 2019 and made it to the national finals. But she misspelled the word vagaries, which means “unpredictable behavior or occurrences.”

Zaila didn’t give up. There was no Bee in 2020 because of the pandemic. So between 2019 and 2021, she increased her daily study time.

Zaila is from Louisiana. She started spelling competitively in 2019. She made it to the national finals. But she misspelled the word vagaries. That word means “unexpected changes in behavior or events.”

Zaila didn’t give up. There was no Bee in 2020 because of the pandemic. So she increased her daily study time between 2019 and 2021. 

Zaila won the 2021 Bee by spelling the word Murraya, a category of tropical plants. Zaila had seen the word before. She and her dad are big fans of actor and comedian Bill Murray. To spell Murraya, Zaila just thought of adding an “a” to his last name. “There was no way I was about to get Murraya wrong,” she says.

Zaila hopes that for the spellers at this year’s Bee, their preparation pays off.

Zaila won the 2021 Bee by spelling the word Murraya. That word means “a category of tropical plants.” Zaila had seen the word before. She and her dad are big fans of actor and comedian Bill Murray. Zaila thought of adding an “a” to Murray’s last name to spell Murraya. “There was no way I was about to get Murraya wrong,” she says.

Zaila hopes that this year’s spelling bee participants prepare well and work hard to win.

Use what you know about multistep word problems to answer the questions below.

Use what you know about multistep word problems to answer the questions below.