This page provides an outline for how to build a Merit achievement about students presenting at conferences. 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
- PRESENTATION NAME - The name of the student's presentation at the conference (eg. Building an Interactive Classroom, Bringing the Outside In)
- BACKGROUND - A description from the student about how and why they came up with the presentation (eg. "the cognitive benefits of engaging in regular outdoor classroom instruction at an early age")
*= 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.
|
Achievement Title: Merit University Students Present Research at the 2026 Hawaii International Conference on Education Achievement Summary: Three Merit University students presented research poster at the 2026 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Their presentations were titled Building an Interactive Classroom, Bringing the Outside In, and How to Evaluate and Advocate. The goal of the 21st annual Hawaii International Conference on Education, is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various education related fields from all over the world to come together and learn from each other. An additional goal of the conference is to provide a place for academicians and professionals with cross-disciplinary interests related to education to meet and interact with members inside and outside their own particular disciplines. |
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.
|
Headline: Merit University Student [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME] Presents Research Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], was one of three Merit University students to present research at the 2026 Hawaii International Conference on Education. [LAST NAME] is a majoring in [MAJOR] and developed and presented [PRESENTATION NAME] out of [BACKGROUND]. The goal of the 21st annual Hawaii International Conference on Education, is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various education related fields from all over the world to come together and learn from each other. An additional goal of the conference is to provide a place for academicians and professionals with cross-disciplinary interests related to education to meet and interact with members inside and outside their own particular disciplines. |
Note: The spreadsheet used in this sample story includes a placeholder for the name of the student's presentation at the conference (eg. Building an Interactive Classroom, Bringing the Outside In) and
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.
|
Headline: Local Merit University Students Present Research Opening: Three Merit University students present research poster at the 2026 Hawaii International Conference on Education. The following local students shared presentations: Repeating: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], is a majoring in [MAJOR] and developed and presented [PRESENTATION NAME] out of [BACKGROUND]. Closing: The goal of the 21st annual Hawaii International Conference on Education, is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various education related fields from all over the world to come together and learn from each other. An additional goal of the conference is to provide a place for academicians and professionals with cross-disciplinary interests related to education to meet and interact with members inside and outside their own particular disciplines. |
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.