STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Five students shared the top prize Thursday in the Staten Island Catholic School Regional Spelling Bee — after 11 rounds led to an unprecedented word drought.

The bee, held at Sacred Heart School in West Brighton, showcased students from 14 borough Catholic elementary schools. Celeste Catalano, principal of Sacred Heart School, and Jann Amato, the regional superintendent of the Catholic School Region of Staten Island, hosted the event for the second year.

Each school held its own spelling bee beforehand, selecting two representatives to participate in the region-wide event. The students ranged in grade from fifth to eighth, and were faced with increasingly challenging words, such as “autonomous,” “irrelevant,” “adjacent,” “ostentatious,” and “grandiloquent.”

“We ar

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