Jeb Green, a senior at Fairmont High School, has been named a National Merit Scholarship finalist.

Students are selected based on their PSAT test scores, involvement in activities and for other accomplishments.

More than 1.6 million students from 22,000 high schools across the country take the PSAT each year. It is an optional test that students take as juniors. About 30 to 40 Fairmont students decide to take the test each school year. Green took it during the fall of his junior year.

“I just wanted to see how I would do. I wasn’t expecting to be named a finalist,” he explained.

Green is the son of Dr. Jeffrey and Nicole Green.

He has been involved in tennis and Math League during his time at Fairmont High School. Green plans to go to BYU in Utah next year to study biochemistry.

The PSAT exam is about three hours in length. Students are tested on reading, writing and math.

“Only about 16,000 students are selected as semi-finalists. It’s very much data-driven. Less than 1 percent of students who take it are named a semi-finalist,” explained Scott Geerdes, who has been a guidance counselor at the high school for 21 years.

Green was notified that he was a semi-finalist in the fall. Then he had to complete an online application, and Geerdes also had to fill out an application.

“The application includes participation in both school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities and honors and awards that have been received,” Geerdes said.

“Less than one-half of 1 percent of the 16,000 students are notified that they’re finalists. It’s a huge, huge honor,” he said.

“I would say it’s well into the thousands of Fairmont students who have taken the exam during my time here. Jeb is now the fourth student to be named a National Merit finalist,” Geerdes said.

Other students named finalists were Joel Dahlin in 2006, Caleb Larson in 2013 and Kellen Rodriguez in 2018

“It’s unique that school counselors will have one or two students named in a career,” Geerdes said. “We’re very much in a unique situation that we’ve had back-to-back finalists the past two years. Fairmont is small by most standards of population. I’m very proud of these students and their families and the teachers and administrators and the community, that we can kindly boast two national merit finalists in back-to-back years.”

After students are named a finalist, there is no further they can go. However, every finalist will be considered for one of 2,500 single-payment National Merit $2,500 scholarships. Green has not yet heard if he is a recipient.