This page provides an outline for how to build a Merit achievement about students performing with musical groups on campus. 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
- CLASSIFICATION - The student's year on campus (eg. freshman, senior)
- INSTRUMENT - The instrument the student plays (eg. cello, trumpet)
*= 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 Announces 2026-2027 Symphonic Band Members Achievement Summary: Merit University's Symphonic Band is deeply rooted in the more than one hundred year history of instrumental musical ensembles at MU. Learn more about the University Symphonic Band and the performance schedule on our website 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 ] Named a Member of Merit University's 2026-2027 Symphonic Band Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], is a member of the University Symphonic Band at Merit University for its 2026-2027 academic year. [FIRST NAME], a [CLASSIFICATION], plays [INSTRUMENT] and is working toward a degree in [MAJOR] The University Symphonic Band is Merit University's premiere concert band and is deeply rooted in the more than one hundred year history of instrumental music ensembles. The band's conductor is David Daley. Along with several concert performances throughout the school year, the Symphonic Band is one of several ensembles that performs at the popular Holiday at Albany concert series, which draws an audience of approximately 2,000 people to each of its four concerts each December. Learn more about the University Symphonic Band and the performance schedule on our website meritpages.com. |
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Note: The spreadsheet used in this sample story includes placeholders for the student's year on campus (eg. freshman, senior) and the instrument they play (eg. cello, trumpet).
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: Local Students Named to Merit University 2026-2027 Symphonic Band Opening: The University Symphonic Band is Merit University's premiere concert band and is deeply rooted in the more than one hundred year history of instrumental music ensembles. The band's conductor is David Daley. The following local students are members of the University Symphonic Band at Merit University for its 2026-2027 academic year: Repeating: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], is a [CLASSIFICATION] who plays [INSTRUMENT] and is working toward a degree in [MAJOR]. Closing: Along with several concert performances throughout the school year, the Symphonic Band is one of several ensembles that performs at the popular Holiday at Albany concert series, which draws an audience of approximately 2,000 people to each of its four concerts each December. Learn more about the University Symphonic Band and the performance schedule on our website 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.