Thirty-five Business Information Management students have earned 87 Microsoft Office Specialist certifications, saving $8,700.

Canyon High offers BIM students the opportunity to earn their MOS certificates free of charge. When purchased individually, a MOS certification costs $100. Students can earn certifications in Microsoft Word, Access, PowerPoint or Excel. Freshmen Cody Clark, Andrew Eason and Jacob Hurst along with juniors Codi Brown, Austin Moya and Kale Rosser have earned certifications in all four programs.

“It’s really worth it in the long run,” Clark said. “You don’t have to spend money to get certifications exactly like this in college.”

Apart from saving money, BIM teacher Dawn Welch said MOS certifications can assist students in their professional careers.

“I’ve had students come in who are interviewing for a job,” Welch said. “Because they’re certified, they start at a higher level, at a higher pay grade.”

Welch said Microsoft Access is a wonderful opportunity for students to learn more.

“When you go into the workforce, a lot of companies are using Access,” Welch said. “You may not necessarily have to know how to create a huge database, but you need to know how to work within a database.”

Welch said MOS certification skills can be useful in other high school courses.

“If you take BIM as a freshman, Word will help you with your English classes,” Welch said. “PowerPoint will help you with your history presentations. Excel will help you with all the math that you have to do.”

In the past, many students completed BIM to fulfill the technology credit previously required by the state. BIM is now an elective.

“I believe that BIM is a very effective course,” Associate Principal Cameron Rosser said. “It does prepare students for the 21st century. Whenever you have numerous students getting their Microsoft Specialist certificates, you can already see that it’s beneficial for their life.”

Students earn their certificates through an exam, for which they use a specialized program to prepare.

“We use this program called GMetrix, which simulates the actual certification tests,” Clark said. “It’s really well done, and it gives you step by step instructions if you don’t know how to do something.”

Rosser said he is extremely proud of students who have completed the certifications and teachers who helped them.

“These skills are going to prepare them for years to come,” Rosser said. “Whatever job they want to go into, they’re going to have computer skills that will allow them to do what they need to do.”