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Certiport Announces the U.S. Winners of Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office Word and Excel
Students from New Jersey and Virginia earn trip to compete for the coveted World Championship during Certiport PATHWAYS 2006
SALT LAKE CITY – July 31, 2006
Certiport today announced Jeff Lear, 17, from Woodbridge, Virginia and Julian Paredes, 17, from Colonia, New Jersey are the 2006 U.S. Champions for Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word, respectively. The two will compete in the annual Worldwide Competition on Microsoft® Office presented by Certiport. From December 2005 to June 2006, a record 40,000 students from 66 countries participated in several rounds of local, country, and regional competitions. The two United States Champions were awarded a prize package worth $1,900 USD, including an all-expense-paid trip to attend the international Certiport PATHWAYS conference. Held at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, USA, 38 country winners will vie for the title of "Best in the World" at Microsoft Word and Excel.
"I have always been fond of computers since I first had one. I plan on furthering my knowledge of computers to become a Web designer or a computer engineer," said Julian Paredes, 2006 United States Champion in Microsoft Word and student of Colonia High School. "I can't believe I have a globally recognized credential. Winning this competition is a great honor."
"From an early age, I've always been anxious to get my hands on anything to do with computers and technology. Someday, I want to do something with computers; either become an architect or a design engineer for a top car company," said Jeff Lear, 2006 United States Champion in Microsoft Excel and student of Gar-Field High School. "It's great to know I have what it takes to do as well as I did in the competition."
From the final round of the competition, only one Excel winner and one Word winner will earn the prestigious distinction of being Worldwide Champions in either Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, each receiving a trophy and a grand prize package worth over $4,000 USD. The package includes a Dell laptop computer, Digital Camera, a Microsoft 360 game system and more. Other 2006 country champion winners include:
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Canada – Laurie Keehn
China – Qiu Shumei
France – Olivia Charbit
Greece – Alexia Korea
Ireland – Douglas Temple
Italy – Davide Cecchetti
Japan – Asumi Suzuki
Jordan – Khaled Al–kokhon
Malaysia – Wan Nur Iwani Binti Wan Ismail
Mexico – Jennifer Diaz Zepeda
New Zealand – Rachel Jamison
Peru – Alberto Emanuel Jon Loo
Singapore – Yong Shun Edward Lay
Switzerland – Roger Birchler
Taiwan – Jia-Wei Ya
Thailand – Prapon Saelee
United Kingdom – Thomas Childs
United States – Julian Paredes
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Canada – Winnie Huang
China – Ge Chen
France – Isabelle Richter
Greece – Apostolia Karampatea
Ireland – James Ryan
Italy – Giovanni Battista Paliani
Japan – Hatsumi Kobayashi
Jordan – Anas Al-kaateeb
Malaysia – Wan Nur Iwani Binti Wan Ismail
Mexico – Haydee Aguirre González
New Zealand – Melissa Gaskell
Singapore – Wai Ming Steve Teo
Switzerland – Monika Scherrer
Taiwan – Wan-Jhen Ciou
Thailand – Bundit Prasatbundith
United Kingdom – Stephen Nutbrown
United States – Jeff Lear
Venezuela – Maria Santana
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In its fourth year, the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office attracts student participants from around the world, producing country champions ranging in age from 15 to 23 years. The 66 participating countries include: Albania, Anguilla, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (US), and Zimbabwe.
For more information about the 2006 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office presented by Certiport, visit: www.certiport.com/competition.
About Certiport
Certiport provides industry-leading training, assessment and certification solutions that enable individuals to develop the skills necessary to achieve more, distinguish themselves and advance in today's academic and business environments. These solutions include the Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³®), the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification Program and Microsoft IT Academy delivered through a channel of more than 10,000 Certiport Centers worldwide. For more information about Certiport, visit www.certiport.com.
"Certiport" and "IC³" are registered trademarks of Certiport, Inc. in the United States and other countries. "Microsoft" is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Press Contact:
John Pilmer
801-369-7535
mediarelations@certiport.com
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