Cellist wins First Place in Microsopft Office Solutions National Competition in St. Louis

L to R: Nicholas Fisher and Alba Maloff

Computer Information Systems Students Continue First Place Finishes in National Competition:
Alba Maloff and Nicholas Fisher Finish First in Microsoft Office Solutions

By David West 4/12/2017

NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University students Alba Maloff, cellist, of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Nicholas Fisher of Iowa won first place in Microsoft Office Solutions at the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) National Collegiate Conference in St. Louis. Harvey Briggs of Monroe was in the top 20 in Security. This is the 17th time in 17 years a NSU computer information systems major has won first place at the national competition.

Thirteen NSU students attended the conference along with Professor of Computer Information Systems Begona Perez-Mira, faculty sponsor of the university’s AITP chapter. More than 460 students and faculty from 48 colleges and universities attended the conference.

“Alba and Nicholas really represented the CIS program well by winning another national championship as did Harvey by finishing in the Top 20,” said NSU Coordinator of Computer Information Systems Curtis Penrod. “They are competing with other exceptional students from across the nation and they came back to Natchitoches with a national championship trophy. While the credit goes to the students for their work on the win, I like to think it is a reflection of the breadth and depth of our program. We have now won national championships in seven different areas with both students and the faculty who support them changing over time. I truly think these championships reflect the quality CIS program we have here at NSU.”

Maloff and Fisher were tested on their knowledge of Microsoft Access (database), Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word and Powerpoint.

“All the parts make up one project so they are linked,” said Maloff, a senior computer information systems major with concentrations in app development and web development and a minor in music performance. “I used one of the queries in Access to create the Excel file, and then a part of the Excel was to be linked to the Word file and so on.”

Maloff believes national competitions are useful for students in the highly competitive computer information systems field.

“It is important for us to put ourselves out there and compare our knowledge to others,” he said. “A couple of months ago we were in regional competition and even though we did not place we learned from the experience and that helped us prepare for nationals.”

Northwestern State’s online bachelor’s program in computer information systems has been rated as the top information technology program in the country, according to Nonprofit Colleges Online. Program graduates are actively recruited by leading corporations throughout the country.
   
“NSU is preparing us to compete in the field,” said Maloff. But it is up to us to use that knowledge and expand it as best we can through research and through activities such as these competitions which the university and the CIS department greatly encourage us to attend.”