{"id":760,"date":"2026-02-11T19:40:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/?p=760"},"modified":"2026-02-11T19:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:40:23","slug":"excel-ling-seth-raymonds-unexpected-journey-to-the-microsoft-excel-national-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/2026\/02\/11\/excel-ling-seth-raymonds-unexpected-journey-to-the-microsoft-excel-national-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Excel-ling! Seth Raymond\u2019s Unexpected Journey to the Microsoft Excel National Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Brad Seehausen <\/strong>
Marketing and Communications Intern, Lacy School of Business ’26<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Becoming the state champion of anything doesn\u2019t just fall into someone\u2019s lap \u2013 but for Seth Raymond, becoming the Indiana State Champion in Microsoft Excel wasn\u2019t the goal. Instead, it
was the byproduct of hours of hard work spent watching tutorials and taking practice exams in pursuit of his Excel certification. As a result, Seth ended up getting slightly more than he bargained for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t trying to be the state champion in Excel,\u201d said the senior finance and business technology & analytics double major, \u201cA lot of workforces use Excel, so I was just hoping to
better myself in different aspects that I would be getting in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entering the Lacy School of Business as a finance major, Seth was soon exposed to the world of Business Technology & Analytics, where he found a niche working with software applicable to real-world settings. In addition to his natural curiosity, Seth accredits much of his success to his
professors, especially Jason Davidson, an assistant professor of management information systems at LSB, as well as Seth\u2019s academic advisor. \u201cProfessor Davidson recommended that we
take our [Excel] certifications and I just happened to score high enough to where it ended up qualifying for state champion,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Seth didn\u2019t just score \u201chigh enough\u201d to qualify for state champion, he scored a perfect 1000\/1000 on his certification, bringing home Butler University\u2019s second Microsoft Excel State Championship within the last three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how does one become so well-versed in Microsoft Excel? Seth places an emphasis on doing the dirty work, but to have fun at the same time. \u201cJust get in there and get reps in,\u201d the senior commented. \u201cWatching practice videos can be very helpful, but also just getting in the program itself and messing around with all of the cool different things that you can do.\u201d He believes people shouldn\u2019t learn Excel with the goal of winning competitions, but rather with a genuine desire to build knowledge and become familiar with the software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to being Excel State Champ, the Fishers native is involved in numerous clubs and organizations on campus, having served as Vice President of his fraternity, Sigma Nu as a sophomore, as well as a part of the Management Information Systems and Technology Association. As a self-proclaimed sports fan, Seth has also participated in the Final Four Analytics Challenge, in which he competed to present a cohesive visualization of key data supplemented by NCAA Tournament. His goal? To utilize these experiences and certifications as he pursues a career in financial planning and data analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The desire to compete and excel academically isn\u2019t the only driving factor for Seth; he\u2019s also driven by a passion for sharing his knowledge with others who are interested in strengthening their technical skills in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seth\u2019s Excel journey doesn\u2019t end at the state level. His next stop is Nashville, Tennessee, where he will compete at the Microsoft Excel National Championship, representing Indiana and Butler on the national stage, accompanied by Professor Jason Davidson in June. Professor Davidson is confident in Seth, who commented, \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege of watching him grow over the past four years. His dedication and hard work earned him the top spot in the state, and I have no doubt he will carry the Butler Way with him to the national championship in Nashville this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there are some nerves surrounding the competition, Seth is all smiles. \u201cYeah, it\u2019s nerve-wracking, but I\u2019m honored to be able to have this opportunity and attempt to place high,\u201d he gleefully shared, \u201cI\u2019m definitely excited to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Becoming the state champion of anything doesn\u2019t just fall into someone\u2019s lap \u2013 but for Seth Raymond, becoming the Indiana State Champion in Microsoft Excel wasn\u2019t the goal. Instead, it
\nwas the byproduct of hours of hard work spent watching tutorials and taking practice exams in pursuit of his Excel certification. As a result, Seth ended up getting slightly more than he bargained for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9198528,"featured_media":762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[40],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9198528"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":773,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions\/773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}