Third Louisiana Institution Offers Full Ride to Spelling Champion Zaila Avant-garde

Southern University has become the third Louisiana academic institution to offer a full-ride scholarship to Zaila Avant-garde, the 14-year-old Louisiana native who won the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, reports The Advocate.

Zaila Avant-garde

“We at SU celebrate you, Zaila!” wrote Ray L. Belton, Southern’s president-chancellor, on Twitter. “You a PHENOMENAL representation of our great state of #Louisiana in all that you do.”

Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System are the other two institutions offering scholarships, though Zaila has previously expressed interest in attending Harvard University.