Sussex Academy senior Jack Thomas has been named a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s 72nd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

AAn athlete and academic leader at Sussex Academy, Jack is a varsity baseball player, Science Olympiad club leader and Technology Student Association leader. A Math League participant, he is a continual yearly medalist at the Sussex County Science Fair, and has played with the Sussex Academy jazz and concert bands since 2020.

A member of the National Honor Society, Computer Science Honors Society and the Tri-M Music Honor Society, Jack is also an Eagle Scout who participates in YMCA Youth in Government and served as Minority Whip at Delaware American Legion Boys State this summer. He has held several donation drives throughout the years to benefit Kent and Sussex county veterans.

Jack is now one of 16,000 semifinalists chosen from 1.2 million students who entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as juniors.

The test served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

Semifinalists must have outstanding academic records throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm students’ earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level, announced in February. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of finalists.

To become a finalist, semifinalists and high school officials must submit a detailed scholarship application, including information on academic records, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin or religious preference.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2027. Each finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 700 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships will be awarded by about 120 organizations for finalists who meet their specific criteria, and about 140 colleges and universities are expected to finance 3,500 college-sponsored Merit Scholarships for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

The 2027 National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 395,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.