Fairmont High School senior Jeb Green recently was named a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist.

It is a rare accomplishment that few students across the country achieve. Students are selected based on their PSAT scores, among other accomplishments.

Green, the son of Nicole and Dr. Jeffrey Green, found out just two weeks ago after his high school guidance counselor, Scott Geerdes, shared the news with him.

“You have to sign up to take the test so I took that last fall and I got my score back but I didn’t find out about National Merit until recently,” Green said.

He admitted he was pretty happy with his score but not expecting to hear he was named a semi-finalist.

After receiving his score, Green had to apply to be considered.

“You have to fill out an application about your plans for college and you need to write an essay and the school counselor pretty much does the rest,” he said.

The school counselor sends in academic transcripts and a letter of recommendation to the organization.

“Jeb is only the fourth student in my over 20 years in Fairmont that has reached this milestone,” Geerdes noted.

Other students from Fairmont who have earned the honor are Kellen Rodriguez in 2017, Caleb Larson in 2013 and Joel Dahlin in 2005.

Last year, 1.6 million students from 22,000 high schools across the country took the PSAT. Green’s score was in the top 16,000, or top 1 percent of all scores.

“It’s a big deal,” Geerdes said. “We’ve had some other kids who have received scholarships (based on test scores) but to make it to the semi-finalist rank is very impressive.”

In addition to being a strong student academically, Green is on the tennis team and also a member of Math League. This past spring, Green placed third place at a Trig-Star competition after earning 100 percent on the test.

He enjoys science and math classes, and plans to attend BYU in Utah next fall to study biochemistry.