A Cobb County Public Library staffer will be appearing in a primetime special Jeopardy! tournament in mid-February.

Raymond Goslow, Senior Library Assistant for Periodicals, will represent Kennesaw State University in the all-new Jeopardy! National College Championship on Tuesday, February 15 at 8 pm on ABC as part of the championship’s first round.

The results of the college tournament are a closely guarded secret. Only recently has Raymond been permitted to share this news of his Jeopardy! appearance with his library staff colleagues ahead of the official announcement released Wednesday.

Raymond will appear in the fifth night of the tournament. Beyond that, he can’t share any of the results or even the questions/answers of the contest. The entire program was recorded in the late fall.

Raymond was named one of 36 contestants, each a student at a different college or university across the United States. Under the game rules, participants were required to be full-time undergraduates, 18 or older, and have no prior bachelor’s degree. Tournament prize levels range from $10,000 for the 24 competitors eliminated in the first round to the $250,000 grand prize.

To get accepted into the tournament, Raymond passed the Jeopardy! College Anytime Test, took a proctored test over Zoom, and got invited to audition in a mock game over Zoom, and went through a background check for the show. That timeline lasted one year before he received the call confirming he would be on the show.

The tournament, hosted by Mayim Bialik, was filmed Nov. 20-23 at Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, California. It debuts February 8 and the finals are February 22.

Raymond graduated in December with his Geographic Information Science (GIS) bachelor’s degree from KSU. Before joining the Cobb library staff, Raymond served as a volunteer at South Cobb Regional Library. He is a veteran Rubik’s Cube competitor and a Spelling Bee champion, among other accomplishments.

More than a competitor, Raymond continuously strives for education and knowledge, and enjoys the camaraderie of joining others with the same energy.

Raymond said, “Going on Jeopardy would have been the experience of a lifetime no matter what, but it was extra special to be a part of this tournament where the stakes and the audience will be bigger than ever. It was so fun to bring our ‘primetime energy’ to the stage that I’ve been seeing on TV for almost 20 years!

“But the best part of the whole experience was the friends that I made among my fellow contestants. Everyone there was a young person with a deep love for knowledge, and I’ve never felt more immediately at home in a group of people than I did with them.”

For more information and to download the March Madness-style J! NCC Bracket, visit www.jeopardy.com/contestant-zone/national-college-championship.

Photos Courtesy: Jeopardy Productions Inc.: Raymond Goslow; J! NCC host Mayim Bialik and Raymond Goslow