Auckland Teens Flex Digital Muscle At Tech World's Olympics

Scoop

3 days ago

Three Avondale College students have earned global recognition at the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships in Florida—a high-profile competition often dubbed the 'Olympics of the tech world.'
Finn McGregor and Dominic Colaco both achieved top ten results worldwide, ranking 7th in PowerPoint and 10th in Microsoft Word respectively. Alongside teammate Karthik Padma, the trio represented New Zealand among 190 finalists selected from over one million entrants across the globe.
They were also among the competitions youngest competitors. 'Most of the others were in late high school or early university, which made being there feel even more awesome,' said Dominic, 14.
Held at the Hilton Orlando, finalists were tested not only technical expertise but also creative problem-solving - tasked with developing solutions for Limbitless Solutions, a nonprofit that designs prosthetics for people with limb differences. 'They gave us a set of criteria, but left it vague enough that we could interpret it creatively,' said Finn. 'That made it really interesting.'
During a nail-biting wait for results, the lucky students also had the opportunity to visit Universal Studios and toured NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where they saw the Atlantis space shuttle.
The entire experience has given the team a boost in confidence and a clearer sense of what future competitions may involve. 'We can now pass that intel back to [Avondale's Innovation Technology teacher] Mr Prasad to help train the next cohort of Avcol students,' said Dominic.
Zeph Morgan from ACE Training, one of Avondale's training provider partners, praised the students' efforts: 'These students put in the work to build their digital skills and well deserved their time in the world's spotlight. We have been cheering them on from the sidelines and couldn't be happier for them.'
Background
ACE Training in Hamilton is the New Zealand solution provider for Certiport. We support the education sector with growing digital skills through Certiport learn material, practice tests and certification exams, giving students the opportunity to gain internationally recognised certifications to assist them with their career paths.
Certiport presents Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) competitions at both national and world levels. Three students from Avondale College, who we partner with, recently competed at the World MOS (Microsoft Office Specialist) Championship as a result of their superior skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint during the National competition.
About ACE
ACE is one of New Zealand's most established training companies with over 35 years of specialist training expertise. We've upskilled more than 450,000 Kiwis, delivering personalised services that ensures our clients' training investments are in safe hands. Our mission is to make technology accessible and user-friendly, driven by our 'better every day' philosophy. This keeps us focused on what truly matters to our people and clients. With dedicated training centres in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, and Christchurch, along with our self-paced, online options, ACE delivers applications, technical training, and certification to world-class standards.