Watch: 14-Year-Old Becomes First Black-American to Win Scripps Spelling Bee

Murraya. That’s the word that catapulted 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde into the history books as she became the first Black-American winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the organization’s 96-year history.

She twirled in delight as confetti rained down on her (watch above).

The newly crowned champion from just outside New Orleans, Louisiana nailed words like “querimonious,” “solidungulate,” and “Nepeta.” She won a $50,000 prize.

“Now I get a nice trophy, which is the best part of any win,” she said on Thursday night after she bested finalist Chaitra Thummala, who stumbled on “neroli oil.” Eleven competitors reached the final round, from an international field of 209 spellers aged 9 to 15.

“Talk about #blackgirlmagic!” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said on Twitter. “We’re all so proud of you!!”

First Lady Jill Biden was on hand to see the historic moment first hand.

Zalia is no stranger to accomplishment. She’s a polymath who holds three Guinness world records for the most basketballs dribbled simultaneously (six basketballs for 30 seconds); the most basketball bounces (307 bounces in 30 seconds); and the most bounce juggles in one minute (255 using four basketballs).

But she’s only been spelling competitively for two years. The New York Times describes the dramatic discovery of her spelling skills:

Zaila, who just finished eighth grade in her hometown, Harvey, La., showed a prowess for spelling at 10, when her father, who had been watching the National Spelling Bee, asked her how to spell the winning word: marocain.

Zaila spelled it perfectly. Then, he asked her to spell the winning words going back to 1999. She spelled nearly all of them correctly and was able to tell him the books where she had seen them.

“He was a bit surprised by that,” Zaila said in an interview before the finals.

Jamaican Jody-Anne Maxwell became the spelling bee’s first Black winner in 1998.

Google celebrated Zaila Avant-garde on Friday. Type her name into their search engine to see how.