“I am so excited that I achieved my Microsoft Office Specialist certification,” said Ambrose Sanchez. “I am in the Take Stock in Children program and because of my certification, I will receive a full ride to college.”
Ambrose is an eighth-grade student at Tavernier’s Plantation Key School (PKS), where 17 other students just like him are benefitting from the school’s Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification program this year.
Middle and high schools Monroe County-wide offer the MOS program. It is one of many certifications the Monroe County School District’s Career and Technical Education Department (CTE) provides to students enrolled in computer science and internet technology courses.
This all began about six years ago when John Padget, a former superintendent of Monroe County Schools and a member of Florida’s state board of education, brought these certifications to the Keys and created an incentive program called <Monroe /> COMPUTE$. Sponsored by his organization, the Golden Fleece Foundation, his incentive program rewards students with a monetary prize for completing certifications.
“<Monroe /> COMPUTE$ is exclusive to the Keys,” said Sibba Mira, the school district’s CTE coordinator. “When we began, we had 82 certifications. Last year, we did 702, of which 125 were Microsoft. In that time period, Adobe, AutoCad, Quickbooks and more certifications have come along.”
The MOS program is one of the most popular certification courses offered. While some Monroe County schools include it as a part of computer science curriculums, PKS offers MOS as an elective. The class, called Digital Info Technology, is composed entirely of honors students.
“Microsoft Office is an online course designed to certify students in PowerPoint, Word and Excel,” said Aimee Gilman, CTE, MOS and photojournalism Instructor at PKS. “Once a student passes a certification test in all three programs, they become a Microsoft Office Specialist. They can then move on to Word Expert or Excel Expert.”
This year, all 18 of Gilman’s students are certified in PowerPoint and Word. Eleven of them are completely MOS certified, and the remaining seven are actively working toward Excel certification.
Gilman said her students “mastered the MOS class.” Two weeks ago, they received their prizes to prove it. Padget hand-delivered each MOS-certified student a $250 check. According to Gilman, most students plan to save their checks for college or for purchasing new computers and software. In all, PKS holds the most certifications of any school in Monroe County.
“These certifications not only demonstrate mastery of the curriculum, but many, such as Microsoft Office Specialist, also earn college credit,” explained Mira. “Employees that obtain an MOS certification typically earn an average of $16,000 more per year than employees that don’t have one.”
The value of these certifications extends far into the students’ futures. This was Padget’s goal, whose mission with the Golden Fleece Foundation is to “enable transformations” in education.
“<Monroe /> COMPUTE$ is encouraging every Monroe County student to explore the computer sciences and internet technology,” said Padget. “Students who accumulate these industry-recognized certifications will be ready for higher-level certificates as they get older. We know that students earning the Microsoft Office Specialist certificate can perform better in high school, college and in any career.”
