Drew Thomas, a senior at Villa Madonna Academy from Villa Hills, has been named a National Merit Semifinalist.
Thomas will join more than 16,000 other students around the country in competing in the program’s academic scholarship program, for which there are over 1.3 million entrants per year, according to the program’s website.
Contestants in the program usually start as juniors who plan to attend college. They take a Preliminary SAT or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (in addition to other screening requirements) during the initial screening process.
From the 16,000 semifinalists selected this month, 15,000 finalists will be chosen and announced by February 2027. Finally, about 6,400 Merit Scholarship winners and 660 special scholarship winners will be announced beginning in March 2027.
Learn more about the program at the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s website.