This is “Akeelah and the Bee” personified! According to CNN , Zaila Avant-garde made history as the first African American contestant to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Avant-garde won all 93 editions of the 2021 competition. After navigating her way through words like “querimonious,” “solidungulate,” and “Nepeta,” the 14-year-old succeeded in spelling “murraya”– a type of tree — to claim her title as champ. And, once she was declared the winner, the preteen jumped and twirled with joy! “I was pretty relaxed on the subject of Murraya and pretty much any other word I got,” shared Avant-garde. Not only is Avant-garde a whiz on the spelling stage, but the Louisiana native has hoop skills too. She gained over 14,000 followers through sharing her journey to the national spelling bee and videos of her playing basketball. Along with her title as the spelling bee champ, she also holds three Guinness World Records for most bounce juggles in one minute. Per the official Guinness World...