I Ran The Classroom Spelling Bee For 20 Years. Here's What Needs To Change.
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"Zaila Avant-garde should not be the exception."
On July 8, Zaila Avant-garde became the first African American middle school student to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and like many other Black women who saw themselves reflected in Zaila’s historic win, I posted the news on social media, hearted the posts by others and felt the pride of my community. But then it settled in that the first National Bee was in 1925. This historic win —after only one other Black student, Jamaican-born Jody-Anne Maxwell, in 1998 — highlighted how narrow the road is to this competition and how inequitable the access is for many minorities, especially those without an infrastructure of support. I taught middle school grammar at a small private K-8 school in Miami. For 20 years, I conducted the classroom spelling bee for my school. It was a requirement.More Related News