First African American to win the National Spelling Bee gets offer of full LSU scholarship – CNN

“Your academic performance reflected scholarship first! You modeled intellectual excellence,” LSU President William F. Tate IV tweeted Saturday.

“@LSU_Honors awaits. I write to offer you a full scholarship to attend LSU. Here for you!,” Tate wrote.

The first African American contestant to win National Spelling Bee is now aiming for Harvard, the NBA and NASAThe first African American contestant to win National Spelling Bee is now aiming for Harvard, the NBA and NASA

The 14-year-old from Harvey, Louisiana, told CNN earlier this week, though, that she hopes to play basketball at Harvard University.

That would be before a career at NASA, or as a coach in the NBA, or a career in neuroscience or gene editing, the champion speller said.

Avant-garde competed against 208 other contestants from five countries to win the championship. She won Thursday night’s final by correctly spelling the word murraya, a type of tree.