Steele student wins Microsoft Office National Championship

Northwest ISD is proud to recognize two students who recently competed at the Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship, in Nashville. Both Steele Early College High School students placed in the competition, including Rebecca Sutherlin who was named a national champion.

Rebecca, an upcoming junior at Steele ECHS, topped 140 finalists at the live competitive event and was named the Microsoft PowerPoint (Microsoft 365 Apps) U.S. National Champion. As the first-place winner, Rebecca received a gold medal, trophy, winner's certificate, Microsoft Surface Pro, $3,000 and an invitation to the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship in Anaheim in July.

Additionally Yaw Oppong-Bawuah, an upcoming senior from Steele ECHS, traveled to Nashville and competed in the Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 Apps) competition. 

Across the country, thousands of students ages 13 to 22 entered the competition by submitting a qualified, passing score on one of certification exams for Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint. There are two qualifying periods to enter: the Fall Qualifier and the Spring Qualifier. At the end of each competition qualifying round, invitations are issued to the students with the top scores in their exam category, for a total of twelve students from each state possible. 

During the live competitive event, finalists were given a printed copy of a document, spreadsheet, or presentation to recreate along with printed instructions and digital assets. They were then scored according to the accuracy of the recreation compared to the original. 

Congratulations to Rebecca and Yaw, as well as Steele CTE Teacher Sarah Zeballos!