Right now, at a school in one of 130 countries, students are seated at a computer, laser-focused on an exam unlike any other. Working within Microsoft Office Word, Excel, or PowerPoint; each student must perform a set of tasks based on a business scenario with pinpoint accuracy, in the shortest time possible. Passing the exam not only earns them a MOS certification, but also qualifies them to start the journey to the 2015 MOS World Championship ( previously ). From these local qualifying rounds, top scoring students will represent their schools at MOS Regional Championships held around the world in May and June. Each country or region will produce true masters of Microsoft Office—about 100 students who will converge on Dallas, Texas, this August to compete for top honors at the 2015 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Championships. Let’s check in on some of the regional rounds taking place around the world: Ghana From nearly 1500 participants, three students will represent Ghana at the World Championships in August. First-place finisher Michelle Naa Korkoi Kanyi, a 15-year-old student at the Mary Mother of Good Counsel School in Accra, will be joined by Jedidiah Koomson of the St Augustine's College and Esther Yeboah of the SOS Hermann Gmeiner International School in Tema, in Dallas this August. Congratulations to the Ghana team and everyone who earned a MOS certificate! Read more: JHS student wins Microsoft Office Specialist Championship Vietnam Vietnam's fifth MOS National Championship round kicked off at an announcement ceremony in Thai Nguyen city, northern Thai Nguyen province, on March 14. The national qualifying round will take place on April 19 in seven provinces, with the final national round will be held on May 24. We’ll keep you posted as winners are announced. Read more: Vietnam launches National Microsoft Office Championship India Kicked off in December 2014, India's regional rounds have been extended to April 26 to accommodate entries from across the states and territories. More than 200 students participated in the Mumbai regional rounds at Bombay Cambridge School, Andheri (East), Mumbai Maharashtra in late February and at New Horizon Public School, Airoli, Navi Mumbai in late March. In 2014, the Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 World Champion was sixteen year old Arjit Kansal from New Delhi. Sashank Batra, also from New Delhi, won second place in the Microsoft Excel 2007 category. United States Across the United States, tens of thousands of students are taking MOS exams to qualify for the U.S. National Championship in Orlando, Florida, June 18th-20th. Among the statewide competitions is the Iowa State Championship , sponsored by the Iowa STEM Council ; the Arkansas State Championship , sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Career Education; and the Utah State Championship , sponsored by the Utah State Office of Education. In North Carolina, Falcon News Feed, the news source for Green Hope High School in Cary North Carolina, provided insight into its ongoing competition round : Q. How hard is it for students to make it to the Microsoft National Championships? A. [PowerPoint 2010 competitor Katie Tomasi] The competition begins at the school level. We create a competitive environment inside of the classroom which allows students to challenge each other. One student per state is taken to the national competition. We are not only competing with students inside our school and classroom, but all over North Carolina. Q. Have any Green Hope students made it to the National Championships in the past? A. Yes, the past three years Green Hope has been represented in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. We have had two national championships in Microsoft Excel 2010; Alex Bainbridge, Nina Josephs, and Daniel Hill traveled to the prestigious Worlds Competition where they placed 3rd, 3rd, and 8th, respectively. Q. Can you briefly describe what takes place at the national competition? A. There are typically 35-40 kids from around the United States that gather for the competition. They will be given starting documents and pictures of what the end documents will look like and a set of instructions all wrapped around a business-scenario; they will have to complete the instructions correctly. While score is the most important result, time also matters. This is well beyond the standard functions of the tests taken at school. This updated form of testing is an attempt to bring the world testing environment to nationals. Mrs. Roettgen is the only teacher to ever attend Microsoft Nationals with students three consecutive years. “This is my last year teaching and I want to go out 4/4. Right now I think I have two students in competition. I have two students that are one second apart and have times that are pretty much unheard of.” Mrs. Roettgen also hopes to be a speaker at the CertifiED conference, a convention for CTE teachers who give certification tests, if she ends up traveling to nationals with students. So opposing students will be left unaware of the time to beat, times for these students cannot be released prior to the competition. We wish all students qualifying in regional rounds the very best of luck! Stay tuned to the ITA blog and follow us on on Twitter and Facebook for updates as we approach the World Championships in Dallas Texas this August.
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