This page provides an outline for how to build an enrollment achievement in Merit. 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*
- DEGREE
- COLLEGE - The college on campus where the student is studying (eg. College of Fine Arts)
*= 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: Merit University Welcomes New Badgers for Fall 2026 Achievement Summary: The Class of 2030 are leaders in and out of the classroom. They're artists and performers, entrepreneurs, athletes, and advocates. Even before they matriculated on Aug. 21, 2026, they set the bar high for future Badgers. Merit University is excited to welcome the class of 2030 to campus this month. The incoming freshman class represents an accomplished, diverse group of individuals who hail from 48 states, the District of Columbia and 17 countries around the world. |
Individual Story
Your Merit achievement will create personalized online stories for each of your students. Throughout this story you will insert placeholders for the data from your spreadsheet. These placeholders are in [BRACKETS] in the text below.
This version of your story can also be sent to newspapers interested in just one student. Merit will automatically turn it into an individual press release for you and add your saved boilerplate.
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Headline: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME] Enrolls in Merit University for Fall of 2026 Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [CITY], has enrolled at Merit University for the Fall 2026 semester. Merit University is excited to welcome the class of 2030 to campus this month. [LAST NAME] will be pursuing a [DEGREE] from Merit University's [COLLEGE]. [LAST NAME] and the additional 601 students who are part of the Class of 2030 are leaders in and out of the classroom. They're artists and performers, entrepreneurs, athletes, and advocates. Merit University is excited to welcome the class of 2030 to campus this month. The incoming freshman class represents an accomplished, diverse group of individuals who hail from 48 states, the District of Columbia and 17 countries around the world. |
Note: The spreadsheet used in this sample story includes a placeholder for the college on campus where the student is studying (eg. College of Fine Arts).
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.
Please note, we recommend that all enrollment stories are online only. Most media outlets will NOT print these stories, but here is a template you can use if necessary:
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Headline: Local Students Enroll at Merit University for Fall 2026 Opening: The following local students enrolled at Merit University for the Fall 2026 semester: Repeating: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [CITY] is pursuing a [DEGREE] from the [COLLEGE] Closing: The Class of 2030 are leaders in and out of the classroom. They're artists and performers, entrepreneurs, athletes, and advocates. Even before they matriculated on Aug. 21, 2026, they set the bar high for future Badgers. Merit University is excited to welcome the class of 2030 to campus this month. The incoming freshman class represents an accomplished, diverse group of individuals who hail from 48 states, the District of Columbia and 17 countries around the world. |
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.