For the first time in the Scripps National Spelling Bee’s 96-year history, an African American has won the top prize. The only previous Black winner of the bee was Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica in 1998.

Zalia Avant-Garde is a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Harvey, Louisiana. Her journey from her hometown to the spelling bee finals in Orlando, Fla. lasted 2 years, with 18 rounds of competition, and tens of thousands of words to review and contemplate with her father. Unlike other competitors who train with professional coaches for many years, treating spelling bees as a family enterprise, Zalia had only competed for 2 years. Zalia has described spelling as a side hobby, although she routinely practiced for seven hours a day.

The competition this year was fierce, with new rules to raising the standard. Each level had an additional word meaning round to test vocabulary, and the threat of a spell-off in the event of a tie loomed over the finalists. But there was no need for a tiebreaker. After being given her final word “murraya,” she seemed perplexed. The pronouncer told her it meant a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian leaves. After asking for the language of origin, she needed little time to solve its structure and she spelled the word correctly. She celebrated on stage with a twirl under confetti. “It made me feel really proud,” she said after winning. “I’m really hoping lots of little brown girls all over the world and stuff are really motivated to try out spelling and stuff because it’s really a fun thing to do and it’s a great way to kind of connect yourself with education, which is super important.

This victory gave extra zing to Zalia’s already remarkable resume: she holds 3 Guinness World Records for her basketball talents. Zalia said she hopes to one day play basketball at Harvard before a career at NASA or as a coach in the NBA. She said she has a variety of interests and is always on the lookout for new challenges to tackle.

“I’ll find something else to do,” she said. “Trust me.”