Canyons District will have a voice at the table when the National Merit Scholarship Corp. starts talking with on-the-front-line educators about how it can increase the program’s reach, improve its processes and ensure the integrity of the academic competition well into the future. 

Hillcrest High Principal Sue Malone has accepted an invitation to join the national advisory panel of the prestigious scholarship program. Malone will serve for four years on the National Merit Scholarship Advisory Council, made up of leaders at schools that have a proven academic track record in the yearly contest. Her first meeting as a member of the 12-educator council will be in November in Evanston, Ill.

When officials from the scholarship organization first contacted her by telephone, she worried that the call’s purpose was to question the school’s academics or a student’s application. “I didn’t know what (they) were calling about, to be honest,” she said. “When I finally found out, I was pleasantly surprised.” 

Malone says the National Merit Scholar executives told her “they realize they are not in the schools so they need input from people in the schools,” she said. “They want input so they can make decisions that will meet the needs of students and make the process seamless for students who are involved.”