SAN ANGELO, Texas — San Angelo Central High School senior, Jett Thompson, has been awarded a scholarship to compete for Angelo State University’s Rams Clay Target Team. The scholarship kicks in when he begins his studies at ASU in the fall.
Thompson accepted the scholarship at an official signing ceremony April 23 at ASU's Junell Center.
Formed as a student organization in 2015, the Rams Clay Target Team funds up to three new scholarships per academic year with money raised at its annual Rams Reload Sporting Clay Shoot.
The team finished as national runner-up in its division at the Association of College Unions International 2019 Collegiate Clay Target Championships last month in San Antonio.
Thompson began clay target shooting in 2010. Since then, he has won six Texas 4-H State Championships in 2011-2012 and 2014-2017. He has also won individual state titles in all disciplines of shotgun shooting, including American skeet and trap, Olympic skeet and trap, and sporting clays; and has twice won the Top Gun Award at the 4-H state meet. Thompson has won age group titles at the San Antonio Livestock Show Shoot, as well as both age divisions of the Houston Young Guns Competition.
He is a member of the Tom Green County 4-H Shotgun Team, that has won five straight Gene Schiller Awards as the Texas club with the highest average score per shooter.
“I hope I can help ASU achieve team growth in collegiate shooting sports events,” Thompson said in a press release from ASU. “The ability to go to school, work and live in a familiar place was the primary reason I chose Angelo State University to begin my undergraduate studies. Being able to shoot on a team with people I have competed with over the past nine years is a bonus for me.”
In addition to the Rams Clay Target Team Scholarship, Thompson has received scholarships from the Perry Echols Memorial Foundation and the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo for his shooting skills. He has also been awarded an ASU Carr Academic Scholarship.
Thompson plans to keep working at Cisco Equipment, where he is currently employed, while attending ASU, where he'll study business and agriculture. He will wrap up his high school clay target shooting career at the Texas 4-H State Championships in San Antonio.
Thompson is the second Rams Clay Target Team Scholarship recipient for 2019, joining Nicholas Billington of Mertzon.
The third annual Rams Reload Sporting Clay Shoot fundraising event is scheduled for Saturday, May 4, at the San Angelo Claybird Association. More details on registering to participate and/or sponsor the event are available at angelo.edu/ramsreload.
