Two high school students and an IT student are the three Greeks who will represent our country this year in the Microsoft Office Specialist world championship that will be held in Florida, USA.

They are Alkmini Gaitantzi from Kavala, Sofia – Charalambia Galanopoulou from Agia Paraskevi Attica and Sotiris Kouros from Pallini Attica. The three children won the gold medal in each of the three categories (Excel, PowerPoint and Word respectively) at the 21st pan-Hellenic competition of Microsoft Office Specialist, held a few days ago in Athens, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Shelter.

The “who is who” of award-winning students

Alkmini Gaitantzi from Kavala is an Informatics student at the International Open University of Greece (I.PA.E.). He was a finalist for three consecutive times in the Excel national finals, while in 2019 he distinguished himself by taking 8th place. In 2022 he won the bronze medal and this year he managed to distinguish himself by winning first place and the gold medal.

As she emphasizes speaking to APE – MPE “the experience, the work and the knowledge I have acquired all these years were the stepping stones for this year’s success, together with the important help and support I had from my professor at the school, Mr. Panagiotis Aslanidis”.

Sofia – Charalambia Galanopoulou, from Agia Paraskevi Attica, won the gold medal in the Word category in the pan-Hellenic competition and is the new gold champion of Greece. Sofia-Charalambia is a student of the 1st grade of high school, Greek Education, Heraklion branch. Sofia – Charalambia was prepared by professor Angeliki Kritsotaki. It is important to mention that Sofia had to face in the final students much older and with experience in Panhellenic finals. Sofia, although participating for the first time, nevertheless managed to obtain the highest possible score.

“With her ethos and organizational skills, Sofia – Charalambia took full advantage of all the possibilities offered by the school,” said the young champion’s teacher, Mrs. Angeliki Kritsotakis, to APE – MPE.

Sotiris Kouros is a 3rd grade student at the 2nd high school of Pallini and is the new gold champion of Greece in the PowerPoint category, who together with the other two children will represent our country in the Microsoft Office Specialist world championship.

The 650 kilometers that separated him from his teacher in Kavala, combined with the gold medal he won, prove that distance education, when it meets certain standards, has nothing to envy to in-person education.

Sotiris, started his preparation in October 2022 and joined the project with code “4” of his school, which was about finding talents from Attica in the context of granting scholarships of AEIN ARISTEVIN.

P. Aslanidis: “Education after the covid era has changed for good”

“Beyond the exceptional potential of this child”, as emphasized by his teacher Panagiotis Aslanidis speaking to APE – BEE, “there were three things he did very well recently… practice, practice and practice. I really feel very proud of my distance learning student who managed to win this year’s competition.”

Mr. Aslanidis, who for the fifth consecutive year participated this year as an IT teacher at a private school, in the Microsoft Office Specialist global competition, does not hide his joy and satisfaction for the victory of his two students and for the awards of the other children.

Speaking to APE – MPE, he underlines that education after the covid era has definitely changed, “there are no longer geographical boundaries, we see practically how a student who lives in Thessaloniki or a student from Evros, were able to be trained at such a high level, with a teacher at the same time but in a different place. We now live in the age where thanks to the internet, children can make the best use of all the possibilities and strengths they have, doing excellent preparation from home.”

The three Panhellenic Microsoft champions won the gold medal, each in their category, among the hundred best from all over Greece. The Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship is the official Microsoft Office skills competition and the only one supported by Microsoft. From 2002 until today, the world championship hosts the best of each country in Word, Excel & PowerPoint in the world final.

It is an experience of a lifetime, for girls and boys from every corner of the planet, which this year will be experienced by Alkmeni, Sofia – Charalambia and Tasos who will travel to Florida, USA with all expenses paid for the world final that will be held between July 30 and August 1.

The three phases of the global competition

The Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) world championship is conducted in three phases: In the first, in the preliminaries of each country, the candidates compete, with the aim of being evaluated with the highest possible score percentage, which will ensure their participation in the finals of each country. In the second phase, the best of each country compete to become the national champion. In the third and final phase, the national champions compete to become the world champion.

Every year, the 100 best pupils, students or students from all over Greece are selected through preliminary competition procedures (carried out in local educational structures throughout the country under the supervision of the Ministry of Education). From the 100 who will participate, the first three who will represent Greece in the global competition are selected, again through a competitive process.

In Greece, ACTA – Technovlastos of AUTH, undertakes the conduct of the Greek leg of the MOS world championship (preliminary matches and pan-Hellenic final), as an exclusive partner of Certiport.

“This year’s Panhellenic championship had more than 1000 entries. The level of the top 100 in the final was higher than any other year. We are very happy that the best students from every part of Greece competed in this year’s final,” said Mr. Agis Ventouris, responsible for the pan-Hellenic final of the Microsoft Office Specliast world championship, speaking to APE – MPE.