EDWARDSBURG — Last week, Kara Tredway, an outgoing Edwardsburg senior, attended a competition in Atlanta for the some of the most proficient Microsoft Office users in the United States.

The Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship took place from June 13 to 15. The competition put together Certiport’s 2018 Microsoft Specialist champions from a variety of states against each other. Tredway was invited to participate after getting a perfect score and having one of the fast times when taking the Microsoft Office Specialist PowerPoint 2013 exam.

the competition, Kara made new friends from all around the world and was recognized for her accomplishment of completing her PowerPoint 2013 certification faster than almost any other student in Michigan, while also having a perfect score.

“Being able to make it to the national level verified that I’m good at what I do,” Tredway said. “It’s not just that I go a 100 percent on a test, it’s ‘wow I’m pretty good at what I do and this shows that I am because I’m competing with the top in the nation.’”

At the competition, Tredway finished outside of the top three in the nation for PowerPoint 2013. The top three finishers in each event will move onto the world championship in Orlando.

“[When I took that test] at school, it wasn’t very competitive,” Tredway said. “I was just trying to pass a test, so I could get certified in the program, but in Atlanta, it didn’t seem that competitive, but it was extremely competitive.”

The initial test is part of a program through Certiport that Edwardsburg Schools offers that allows students to receive certification in a variety of Microsoft Office programs, such as Word, Excel and others.

“This is the second year that we are a testing center,” said Kim Bellaire, a teacher at Edwardsburg Schools. “The first year, we piloted the program and this year we certified 303 different certificates through Microsoft.”

Tredway had the second fastest time at Edwardsburg and in the state. Tyler Dahms finished ahead of her, but he was unable to go due to a conflict with the high school’s trip to Germany. As the state’s second place finisher, Tredway was able to go in his place.

“Both Kara and Tyler were trying to beat each other’s score,” Bellaire said. “There was friendly competition going on.”

The certificates benefit students in multiple ways, such as teaching them skills that will help them in college, while also adding skills and accomplishments they can put on a job application or resume.

Bellaire has even had students who were hired for jobs because they had one of the certifications because she says it put them ahead of the competition.

“Also, some students that are going on to college can skip an intro-level computer class because they already have a certification,” Bellaire said.

Then, of course, the program can provide students with unique opportunities they may not have been able to experience otherwise.

“Even aside from competing, it was great to be able to hang out with people who have the same interests as you, being able to walk around and see the sites in Atlanta.” Tredway said. “It was a lot of fun.”