Whiz Kid: National Merit Scholar Grant Fairchild Might Just Lengthen Your Life

At 18, Grant Fairchild can vote, buy a car or join the military. He isn’t a kid any more. Still, when it comes to choosing a “whiz kid,” science teacher Kevin Gannon says there’s no better example than Fairchild. 

“When you mention the word 'whiz kid,' I think of somebody that has got a very quick intellect,” Gannon said. “Grant’s intellect is that.  Not only is it vast—he can retain knowledge like you can’t believe—but he can access it very quickly.”

Gannon noticed that ability when Fairchild took his AP Biology class as a junior. 

“If we needed somebody to have that factoid to continue a conversation—‘What was the name of that thing that we studied three weeks ago?’—Grant would have it. ‘What is that example of the heterotroph that is common to this biome?’ Boom, he’s got it,” Gannon said. 

Fairchild has read every book in Gannon’s class library—books on evolution, genetics and ecosystems—and he would come to Gannon’s classroom after he finished each one armed with a detailed list of questions.

But Fairchild said his favorite is The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

“It’s about sort of a gene-centered view on evolution. Whereas many biologists look at it species-centric or organism-centric, he sees it more as a competition among different genes, and even the genes in one organism may be competing,” Fairchild said.

He’s fascinated by evolution, especially the aging process and the tiny chromosome caps called telomeres that may be responsible for controlling how fast we age. 

“Telomeres are sort of at the end (of a chromosome), like the aglet on the end of a shoelace to keep it from fraying,” Fairchild said. “The shortening of that telomere is theorized to be one of the main causes of aging, so I’d really be interested in researching that, for instance, and seeing how you can slow it down or stop it or reverse it in any way.”

He’ll be on the right track in the fall when he starts classes as a biology major at the University of Alabama, where he earned a full ride as a National Merit Scholar. Though Fairchild had his pick of schools, he chose Alabama for its campus and what he called “top-notch facilities”—suite-style dorms, underground student parking and high-tech washing machines. 

"You program them to call your cell phone when your laundry’s done,” he said, smiling.

That little luxury may be useful when Fairchild’s in the middle of a marathon study session—and there will be plenty of those in his future. He already plans to get his Ph. D., and he’s got his eyes set on one of the country’s top universities.

“I think Stanford has a really good aging lab that’s pretty hard to get into, so I’m going to try to work really hard so if that’s the lab I want to get into, I at least have a shot,” he said.

With his passion for learning and the mind to back it up, this whiz kid is well on his way.

Whiz Kid: Grant Fairchild

Whiz Kid’s School: Geneva Community High School

Whiz Kid’s Accomplishment: He’s a National Merit Scholar who scored a perfect 36 on the ACT and competed on the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering team this year.

If you know a Geneva student of any age who's done something extraordinary, unusual or just totally awesome, nominate them for the Whiz Kid column by e-mailing Tara Knott at tara.knott@pop.belmont.edu.