Three Dunbar High School students will go for the triple crown this summer at the 2023 Certiport® Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship. The school will have a state champion competing in each of the three categories: Microsoft Office Word, Excel® and PowerPoint®.

Andrew Chuang Saladin and Conner Beard were just crowned Florida State Champions. Andrew in Word 2019 and Conner in Excel. Brian Velazquez won a state championship for PowerPoint in December.

“We are definitely making our mark in history at these Microsoft competitions” said Dunbar High School Principal Carl Burnside. “We have the winning formula for success. Provide students with advanced STEM curriculum paired with high level competitions and that just motivates our students to want to be the top performers in the country.”

Andrew is making his third trip to the Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship. He won the state, national and world title in Excel two years ago, and last year finished second in the world in PowerPoint after winning the state and national title.

“This is my final run at this pretty amazing competition,” Andrew said. “I hope to perform as well as I have in the past, but this is a new year, in a new office application. Whatever the outcome, I know it’ll be a lot of fun, and I have a lot of promising compatriots to root for!”

The 2023 Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship is June 26 to 28 in Orlando. State champions will be tested in a proctored lab in their respective exam tracks. Each first-place winner in each category will receive a $4,000 scholarship, trophy, certificate, and an all-expenses-paid invitation to compete at the 2023 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship.

“I didn’t really expect to get here but it was all thanks to the guidance and support of my teachers,” Conner said. “Thank you Dunbar.”

Dunbar High School has the rare distinction of producing 32 Certiport® Microsoft Office Specialist Florida State Champions, seven national champions and three world champions.

A fourth Dunbar student, Ann Gracy, is representing Florida at the 2023 Adobe Certified Professional U.S. National Championship. To be selected for this competition, Ann had to be Adobe Certified and submit an original design project in either Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and/or InDesign. The candidates with the best projects from around the country were chosen to compete.

“I was so surprised but mainly excited to find out I qualified,” Ann said. “I can’t wait to meet the other competitors and represent Dunbar.”

The 2023 Adobe Certified Professional U.S. National Championship is also in Orlando June 26 to the 28. Competitors will have eight hours to create a design project. The top three competitors at the U.S. National Championship will receive a scholarship, certificate of achievement, and an all-expenses-paid invitation to compete at Certiport’s Adobe Certified Professional World Championship.

You can learn more about the Adobe Certified Professional U.S. National Championship at acpchampionship.certiport.com/us and more about the Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship at us.moschampionship.com.

Source: School District of Lee County