Schools
2015 UCS graduate named national champion in Microsoft Excel competition
Joe Halikos has earned an all-expense paid trip to the Microsoft Office Specialist 2015 World Championship in Texas
A 2015 Utica High School graduate is the national champion in a tournament that tested his expertise in the Microsoft Office product Excel.
Joe Halikos has earned an all-expense paid trip to the Microsoft Office Specialist 2015 World Championship in Texas this August after earning the national title in the Excel software competition.
Halikos was named the 2015 Microsoft Specialist U.S. Champion for Microsoft Excel 2013 after taking a timed exam at the national tournament in Florida.
The timed exam tested how effectively he has mastered the internationally-recognized software used for storing, organizing and manipulating data.
Finalists were given a printed copy of a spreadsheet to recreate along with printed instructions and digital assets.
Students were scored according to the accuracy of their work compared to the original.
The popular Microsoft Office competition is the only one endorsed by Microsoft, providing a platform for students to showcase their expert skills using Microsoft Office tools.
The competition is sponsored by both Microsoft and Certiport, a national business certification organization. To qualify, students take a certification exam developed by Certiport.
More than 470,000 exams were entered in this year’s competition and 84 students competed in the national competition.
In addition to Microsoft Excel 2013, national champions were named in Microsoft Word 2013, Microsoft PowerPoint 2013, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft Word 2010, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2010.
The six national winners will now compete against more than 100 students from 30 countries at the World Championship in Dallas, Texas August 9 through 12.
Six winners will receive cash prizes, medals and the title of Microsoft Office Specialist Word, Excel or PowerPoint World Champion.
