Merit's achievements are fill-in-the-blank style stories that allow you to combine templatized text with a spreadsheet of personalized student data. These stories are likely to be shared by students and their families because each story is unique and personal.
As you write your achievement, you'll want to take a look at the personalized data that is available to you in your spreadsheet (or list). Every spreadsheet will contain students' first names, last names, hometowns, zip codes and emails. It's very easy (and perfectly acceptable) to write an achievement that uses placeholders for just students' first names, last names and hometowns.
Here's a quick example for what a story with these placeholders could look like:
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Headline: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME] Named to Merit University's Fall 2026 Dean's List Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], was named to Merit University's Fall 2026 Dean's List. Over 1,200 outstanding MU students were recognized for superior academic performance during the fall semester. "I join the university's faculty, staff and administration in offering heartfelt congratulations to the students who've made the Dean's List," said MU President Matthew Collins. "You've shown the determination and perseverance necessary to accomplish great things here at Merit University." To be eligible for the Dean's List, MU students must earn a GPA of 3.5 or better while taking a minimum of 12 graded credit hours. |
The above example creates a nice personalized story, but you can certainly include more detail if it's available to you. For example, your spreadsheet could contain columns with additional information like students' majors, degrees, class years, high schools and more.
Use any of these other fields to make each students' story feel completely unique. Here's an example of the same story with additional placeholders and personalization throughout:
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Headline: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME] Named to Merit University's Fall 2026 Dean's List Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], was named to Merit University's Fall 2026 Dean's List. [LAST NAME], a [CLASSIFICATION] [MAJOR] major and a graduate of [HIGH SCHOOL], was among over 1,200 outstanding MU students recognized for superior academic performance during the fall semester. "I join the university's faculty, staff and administration in offering heartfelt congratulations to [LAST NAME] and all of the students who made the Dean's List," said MU President Matthew Collins. "You've shown the determination and perseverance necessary to accomplish great things here at Merit University." To be eligible for the Dean's List, MU students must earn a GPA of 3.5 or better while taking a minimum of 12 graded credit hours. Congratulations [FIRST NAME]! |
Visit our Template Archive to see more samples and get ideas.