This page provides an outline for how to build a Merit achievement about a group of students who were inducted into a single honor society. In order to personalize the achievement for your students you will need to prepare a spreadsheet of student data to use as placeholders throughout the achievement. Here are the placeholders used in this story:
- FIRST NAME*
- LAST NAME*
- HOMETOWN*
- ZIP CODE*
- EMAIL ADDRESS*
- MAJOR
- CLASSIFICATION - The student's year in school (eg. junior, senior)
*= Data required by Merit
Achievement Title & Summary
Your achievement title and summary will be used for the online version of your story and shared across social media. They will also appear on your school's Merit page.
Your summary should act as a comprehensive overview of the achievement. After your summary, readers will see a list of students who are part of the story.
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Achievement Title: Twenty Students Inducted into Beta Beta Beta National Honor Society at Merit University Achievement Summary: The Merit University chapter of Beta Beta Beta National Honor Society welcomed 20 students at the University’s annual induction ceremony which took place on May 25, 2026. Beta Beta Beta is the oldest and largest honor society. A student must achieve a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 and be in the top 20 percent of their class by the end of their first year. Merit University congratulates all of the new inductees. |
Individual Story
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Headline: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME] Inducted into Beta Beta Beta National Honor Society at Merit University Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], a [CLASSIFICATION] [MAJOR] major, has been inducted into the Beta Beta Beta National Honor Society at Merit University. Beta Beta Beta is the oldest and largest honor society at MU. A student must achieve a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 and be in the top 20 percent of their class by the end of their first year. [LAST NAME] is one of 20 new Merit University inductees. The annual induction ceremony which took place on May 25, 2026. |
Group Press Release
This is the version of your press release that will be sent to newspapers interested in multiple students from your spreadsheet. It's a local story that will include a list of only the students from a paper's coverage area.
Your group press release will have an opening, repeating and closing section. The opening and repeating sections will be the same for every newspaper. The repeating section will contain all of your placeholders and will be the only part of the press release that varies from paper to paper. Use the last sentence of your opening to introduce your list of students.
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Headline: Local Students Inducted into Beta Beta Beta National Honor Society at Merit University Opening: The Merit University chapter of Beta Beta Beta National Honor Society welcomed 20 students at the University’s annual induction ceremony which took place on May 25, 2026. The following local students were inducted: Repeating: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN] a [CLASSIFICATION] [MAJOR] major. Closing: Beta Beta Beta is the oldest and largest honor society. A student must achieve a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 and be in the top 20 percent of their class by the end of their first year. |
Note: Merit will automatically add your saved boilerplate to the closing section of your group press release.
Add Images and Publish
Achievements are at their best with images included. If possible, include a photo with your story. Get a picture of the achievement in action or a group shot of the students involved. If you're unable to include a photo, instead consider using a school or department logo. The image(s) you choose will appear on your online stories and also go to media recipients.
Use this template as inspiration to publish your next achievement. Log into your Merit account here. If you’re looking for more details on how to build this template into the Merit achievement workflow you can follow the step by step tutorial here.