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 are all very proud of you, not only because you are tremendous spellers of your schools, but because you have demonstrated great determination and the willingness to increase your knowledge,” said Catalano at the beginning of the competition. “It is evident you care about your studies and want to achieve academic success.”
28 students representing 14 Catholic schools competed to become Staten Island Catholic School Speling Bee Champion at Sacred Heart School in West Brighton on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
Amato, too, expressed her pride for the students participating. “It takes a lot of courage, and it builds your focus, and it builds your confidence, and those things are going to carry on way past time,” said the Regional Superintendent. “I can almost guarantee that I’m going to see each and every one of you in our Catholic high schools in a couple of years at front and center.”
This year’s pronouncer was Rebecca Giaccio, a teacher at St. Clare School. The table judges were Lawrence Hansen, the principal of St. Joseph Hill Academy, and Catalano, with additional assistance by Tara Hynes, the principal of Our Lady of Good Counsel School; Mrs. Bernadette Ficchi, the principal of St. Ann School and Sister Sharon McCarthy, the principal of Academy of St. Dorothy. The Rules Regulators were JC Kiernan, the principal of St. Charles School and Stacie O’Brien, the Instructional Specialist for the Staten Island Region.
After 90 minutes and 11 rounds, Amato announced the unthinkable — for the first time in Staten Island Catholic School Regional Spelling Bee history, they had run out of words.
Joined on stage by Jann Amato, regional superintendent of Catholic schools, 28 students representing 14 Catholic schools competed to become Staten Island Catholic School Spelling Bee champion at Sacred Heart School in West Brighton on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
Due to this landmark occurrence, Amato declared five co-winners of the spelling bee: Luke Thevenot, of Sacred Heart School; Adam Burdzy, of St. Ann School; William Zhang, of Father Vincent Capodanno Catholic Academy; Katherine Wong of St. Joseph Hill Academy, and Jillian Russo, of Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Russo, a sixth grader, shared that she has been participating in class spelling bees since fourth grade and was excited to take those skills to the championship rounds.
“I was very nervous. But again, I was also proud and excited that I got to share the win, and I was excited that I’ve come this far,” she shared. She also said that she had been studying with her mother for the past few weeks for this event, drilling words from different grade levels. Russo is the third student from Our Lady of Good Counsel to win the regional bee in three years.
Similarly, Wong had practiced her spelling by repeatedly writing out the words. The eighth grader was also nervous on the auditorium stage, but never let it get to her.
“I just took a deep breath and calmed down,’’ Wong said after the win. ”It was great.“
Thevenot, on the other hand, faced the competition head on, with little fear.
“I studied for a couple of hours, and it wasn’t too challenging, since I already made it to the school spelling bee last year,’’ he said. It was very good experience.”
The sixth grader said he hopes to compete in more spelling bees in the future.
Zhang, who had practiced by memorizing as many words as possible, had adjusted to the nervousness of a bee, as this was his second regional competition.
“As more rounds went on, I started to feel more confident,” the eighth grader shared. “Like, when we all had to keep going back, I was just grateful that I was there. I didn’t really care what happened.”
Burdzy, an eighth grader, is also a repeat visitor to the regional bee. He is also excited to participate in other competitions in the future and wants to continue to build his spelling repertoire.
“I studied a lot, but there was really no true way to study,” he shared.
Amato plans to visit each of the champion’s schools in the near future to present them with their spelling bee trophies and medals.