Cyndi Loza

Two Regional Technical Institute students were named the winners of a North American Microsoft competition last week. Both students will represent the U.S. in international competition.

Anthony W. Lewis and Justin R. Wainscott, RTI students in the Business Computer Systems program, won the national 2008 Certiport Microsoft Software Competition. Lewis was named the Microsoft Excel North American champion, and Wainscott is the Microsoft Word North American champion.

As champions, they will be representing the United States and competing against students from 77 countries in a three-day competition beginning on July 31. Every student in the world age 14 or older is eligible to participate in the competition by taking a Microsoft Office certification exam at a Certiport Testing Center in Word and/or Excel.

“We take the very best scores, which is always 100 (percent), and then from that point look at who got to that 100 percent the quickest,” said Mike Maddock, the director of the Certiport’s North American Higher Eduction.

Usually U.S. representatives are selected from different parts of the country, but this year was a rare exception, Maddock said.

“It’s extremely rare both come from the same school,” said Maddock, who added that this information came as a shock. “I mean, it’s rare they came from the same region. Then it was rare that they came from the same state and then, ‘Oh my God, they came from the same school!’”

Lewis and Wainscott are the only students from the same school competing in the same year.

RTI instructor Gertrude Vinci said all her students in her Business Computer Systems course take the Microsoft Office Specialist certification exams in Word, Excel and PowerPoint and are automatically enrolled into the competition in Word and Excel.

She had in previous years two students competing at the world level — Jessica Warren was the 2005 Excel Champion and Monica A. Avendano was the 2007 Excel Champion.

“Probably the main thing that this points to is the level of instruction at the school, and it’s pretty intensive training,” said Carol Schellin, a consultant for the district’s Career and Technical Education office. “A lot of people mistake (RTI) is for kids who don’t intend to go to college, but that is not (always) the case.”

To learn more about the district’s Career and Technical Education, visit www.washoe.k12.nv.us/cte/. To learn more about RTI, visit www.washoe.k12.nv.us/rti/.