A Little Bit About Me

Mary Aquino

Hi all - you may have noticed I'm the new face of Blackbaud University around the Altru Community. I've been sending along some friend requests and posting the monthly certification praise blogs. I'm a fan of certification for many reasons. I will get to that in a bit. Before that, let me introduce myself.


My name is Mary Aquino-Cooper. I've worked at Blackbaud more than 21 years. Most of those years have been working with Financial Edge. I've also taught Raiser's Edge and learned a bit of eTapestry. I consider myself a quasi-expert on Financial Edge. Recently, I had the opportunity to learn more about Altru, and I'm enjoying what i'm learning! Here's why.


I grew up in a musical family. My father was a composer, conductor, and a tenor. My mother was his accompanist and a soprano. Both were trained music teachers. I grew up in Boston and spent so much time being whisked off to rehearsals and concerts with the Boston Symphony and other local orchestras and choruses. My parents were both members of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for around 25 years. I spent many summers at Tanglewood and enjoyed all of the beauty it offered.


Fast forward a whole bunch of hears and here I am in South Carolina. Following in my dad's footsteps, I am on the board of directors for the Long Bay Symphony Orchestra (Dad was on the board of the Long Bay for a few years too) and excited to be a part of the world of Arts & Cultural at Blackbaud now!


So...how does all this tie back to certification? I began this Altru journey earlier this year by taking some of the Blackbaud University eLearning lessons and classes. When it came time to certify, I was truly scared! And then I remembered...I had learned everything I needed to know in my Altru Fundamentals classes. Better than that, I had my handouts and I had access to Altru. Once I remembered the test was open book, open software...my fear evaporated!


Certification excites me. So if you're learning Altru, it's really easy to take the exam. Once you complete your Fundamentals classes (or if you've been using the system for a while, skip the classes), register for the Altru Fundamentals Exam. When you pass, you can say that you know the key concepts in Altru. And you'll get a badge which certifies that knowledge. You can add the Altru certification badge to your Community profile. You can also add the badge to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn profiles too!


So have you certified in Altru yet? What are you waiting for? If you’re a Learn More® training subscriber, certification is included with your subscription! Just click, request, and certify!