Three high school students have set themselves up for future success by earning a professional certification they hope will give them an edge in the workforce.
McKenna Mertz, Nik Brown,and J.T. Davis all became Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certified before completing the 2023-2024 school year.
Davis was the first CCHS student to complete the certification. “I was really surprised I passed all three of them on the first try,” he said.
The trio worked on the certification as part of their digital literacy class taught by Dena Freeman. They began by mastering Microsoft Word, passing a test to earn their first certification. Excel and PowerPoint followed suit, each requiring its own comprehensive exam.
Passing those three tests gave them the distintinction of MOS certification.
“I struggled a lot with Excel because of formula and function,” McKenna said. Nik echoed her opinion while J.T. thought PowerPoint was more difficult.
McKenna graduated with the Class of 2024 and said this certification will broaden her employment opportunities. “I picked this class because it sounded interesting, but I didn’t know anything about the class,” McKenna added. “This will make me more presentable to employers.”
The certification, although not heavily utilized in this Google-dominated school district, was a goal for all three students. “I wanted to be certified to be considered work-ready and have it to put on a resume,” J.T. shared.
Nik, who is interested in programming more than usage of the Microsoft programs, said he “went in with the intent to just pass the class.” But, after experiencing the content, he discovered it was interesting and helpful. “I’m actually happy it was this,” Nik added.
With their MOS certification complete, the students were given the option to pursue further certification in Outlook or focus on class projects. All three chose to tackle the Outlook certification, although none managed to finish before the school year concluded.