This page provides an outline for how to build a Merit achievement about high school students who have earned a scholarship to attend your institution. 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
- HIGH SCHOOL - The name of the student's high school (eg. Albany High School)
- SCHOLARSHIP - The name of the award (eg. Tony Stark STEM Scholarship)
- AMOUNT - The amount awarded (eg. $35,0000)
- DESCRIPTION - A stand-alone sentence describing the the scholarship (eg. The Tony Stark STEM Scholarship is awarded to 20 high school students each year who display advanced aptitude and interest in robotics and engineering.)
*= Data required by Merit
Please note that when writing a story about students who have not yet enrolled at your school, you will want to use the Accepted category when publishing your achievement. This will ensure that the students do not gain an affiliation with your school prior to enrolling.
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: Merit University Awards Scholarships to Accomplished Incoming Students Achievement Summary: Each year, Merit University awards more than 400 scholarships to incoming students. This year, MU has awarded more than $1 million to students in recognition of their outstanding high school achievements. |
Individual Story
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Headline: [FIRST] [LAST] Awarded Scholarship at Merit University Body: [FIRST] [LAST], of [HOMETOWN], was among over 400 incoming students welcomed to Merit University this fall who earned more than $1 million in scholarships. [LAST NAME], a graduate of [HIGH SCHOOL] majoring in [MAJOR], earned a [AMOUNT] [SCHOLARSHIP] based on outstanding academic achievement in high school. [DESCRIPTION] Merit University’s incoming student scholarships are awarded to full-time students and are renewable for up to four years with good academic and social standing. |
Note: The spreadsheet used in this sample story includes placeholders for the name of the student's high school (eg. Albany High School), the scholarship they earned (eg. Tony Stark STEM Scholarship), and the amount awarded (eg. $35,0000). It also includes a stand-alone sentence describing the the scholarship (eg. The Tony Stark STEM Scholarship is awarded to 20 high school students each year who display advanced aptitude and interest in robotics and engineering.)
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: Merit University Awards Scholarships to Incoming Students Opening: The following local students were among over 400 incoming students welcomed to Merit University this fall who in total earned more than $1 million in scholarships: Repeating: [FIRST] [LAST], of [HOMETOWN], a graduate of [HIGH SCHOOL] majoring in [MAJOR], earned a [AMOUNT] [SCHOLARSHIP]. [DESCRIPTION] Closing: Merit University’s incoming student scholarships are awarded to full-time students and are renewable for up to four years with good academic and social standing. |
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.