This page provides an outline for how to build a Merit achievement about accepted students. 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*
*= 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: Students Accepted to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at Merit University for Spring 2026 Achievement Summary: Merit University, an award-winning university in New York, is excited to announce the accepted students into the Bachelor of Science in Nursing for Spring 2026. Throughout their Merit journey, students will prepare for the licensure exam with a high standard of academic excellence. The BSN program graduates will enter the local workforce to meet the increasing demand for healthcare clinicians. Through academic rigor, hands-on learning with innovative technology, and service initiatives, Merit students will join the workforce as compassionate clinicians and leaders in patient care. Learn more about Merit University's graduate and undergraduate programs meritpages.com. |
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] Accepted to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at Merit University for Spring 2026 Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], is one of over 400 students accepted to Merit University's Bachelor of Science in Nursing program for Spring 2026. Throughout their Merit journey, students will prepare for the licensure exam with a high standard of academic excellence. |
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 acceptance 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 Accepted to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at Merit University for Spring 2026 Opening: Merit University, an award-winning university in New York, is excited to announce the accepted students into the Bachelor of Science in Nursing for Spring 2026. Throughout their Merit journey, students will prepare for the licensure exam with a high standard of academic excellence. The following local students have been selected: Repeating: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN] Closing: The BSN program graduates will enter the local workforce to meet the increasing demand for healthcare clinicians. Through academic rigor, hands-on learning with innovative technology, and service initiatives, Merit students will join the workforce as compassionate clinicians and leaders in patient care. Learn more about Merit University's graduate and undergraduate programs meritpages.com. |
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.