Southeast Alamance senior Jack Wells earns NC State Goodnight Scholarship

Jack Wells, a senior at Southeast Alamance High School, has earned North Carolina State University’s Goodnight Scholarship, a $22,000-a-year award that can total $88,000 over four years for traditional students. The Alamance-Burlington School System student was named to the Class of 2026 cohort, one of 50 recipients drawn from 32 North Carolina counties.

The scholarship is part of the Goodnight Scholars Program, which NC State founded in 2008 with support from alumni Jim Goodnight and Ann Goodnight. The program is one of two Goodnight scholarship programs at the university, alongside the Goodnight Transfer Scholars Program, which was founded in 2017.

Selection is far from automatic. NC State says candidates go through an application and interview process, with a volunteer committee made up of current and former university faculty, staff, alumni and industry representatives from SAS helping review applicants. The university says it weighs academic performance through grades, weighted and unweighted grade-point average and class rank.

For Southeast Alamance, Wells’ award stands out as a marker of how students from a public high school in Alamance County can compete for one of the state’s more selective scholarships. The recognition also adds to the profile of a school system that serves students across Alamance County, where advanced coursework, academic counseling and family support can shape opportunities long before college applications are submitted.

The Goodnight Scholarship is designed to help high-achieving North Carolina students at NC State, and the size of the award makes it especially significant for families weighing the cost of a four-year degree. For a traditional student, the full value can reach $88,000, a level of support that can change the financial calculus for college and reduce the burden of borrowing.

Wells’ win gives Southeast Alamance a named student achievement to point to as the Class of 2026 moves toward graduation. It also offers a practical lesson for younger students in Alamance County: the scholarship rewards strong grades, rigorous academic standing and the kind of interview performance that can carry a student from a local classroom in Haw River or Mebane-area school routes to one of the most competitive awards at NC State.