PowerPoint Champion hails from East Meadow – liherald.com

When students create their schedules at the end of eighth grade, most don’t expect that their choices could lead them across the country for a competition hosted by Microsoft. For recent East Meadow High School graduate Tristan Pesqueira, the lessons he learned as a student in his school’s multimedia classes did just that.

Pesqueira and students across the United States traveled to Dallas, Texas this June to compete in the Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship, a competition that tests students’s skills in Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. In the end, Pesqueira came out on top in the PowerPoint division.

For becoming the 2022 Microsoft PowerPoint U.S. National Champion, Pesqueira received a 3,000 dollar prize, a Microsoft Surface ProX laptop, and will be participating in the 2022 MOS World Championship in Anaheim, California July 24 to 27, where he will compete with dozens of other finalists from countries across the globe.

“It’s another nice free trip for me,” Pesqueira joked in an interview he had with Tethered and Brave Digital Studios at the Dallas competition.

“These students demonstrated that despite multiple years of academic disruption and online learning, they’ve gained enough skills to confidently compete in a high-pressure environment,” Ray Murray, general manager at Certiport said. Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, provides performance-based IT certification exams that “accelerate academic and career opportunities for learners.”

Up to 12 people from each state were selected for the event, based on their scores from the qualifying round. More than 44,000 students ages 13 to 22 submitted their scores, with 85 finalists attending the live competition.

“The MOS U.S. and World Championships give students the incredible opportunity to test their technical skills and knowledge,” Rick Herrmann, vice president of Worldwide Public Sector Education, at Microsoft said. “Every student who walks away from this competition is a winner because they’ve earned a globally recognized credential that will propel them to brighter career and educational opportunities.”

Pesqueira had an exceptionally high score in his qualifying exams on Microsoft PowerPoint, sending him to the National Championship. Classmate Jeremy Goldstein, the first student in the school district’s history to qualify for this competition, also attended the National Championship and competed in Microsoft Word.

Taught by Samuel Joseph, EMHS offers Multimedia 4, a class where students use programs to learn Microsoft Office and take Microsoft Office Specialist tests that honed their skills. The class also promotes students getting MOS certified, which validates proficiency in technical skills using software applications and is industry-recognized.

“The EMSD believes it is important to understand the value of these programs in the ever-changing landscape of educational programs so students are made aware of the career opportunities available in the post-secondary educational world,” District Business and Technology Department Chairperson Toni McIntosh, said.

Upon qualifying, Pesqueira spent most of his class time preparing for the competition. “The biggest challenge was studying for the MOS exam, it was pretty nerve-racking to take all those practice tests.”

Finalists were given a printed copy of a document, spreadsheet, or presentation to recreate along with instructions and digital tools. They were then scored according to the accuracy of the recreation compared to the original.

“The format of the test was much different than anything I had taken before,” Pesqueira said. “I was rushing for a little bit. The first 10 minutes of it were spent figuring out how to start the exam.”

Pesqueira advised other students interested in the competition to just go for it. “Don’t stress too much,” he said. “If you know most of the program, you’ll be alright.”

Pesqueira will be attending Binghamton University in the fall. At Binghamton’s Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, the incoming freshman will have time to explore his interests and find what major speaks to him.