This page provides an outline for how to build a theatre production 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*
- MAJOR
- CLASSIFICATION - The student's year in school (eg. sophomore, junior)
- ROLE - The student's role in the production (eg. Groot, director)
* = 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: MU Theatre Group Presents "Groot: The Musical" Achievement Summary: The Merit University Theatre Group will present "Groot: The Musical" on Nov. 9-12. The musical follows Groot, an alien tree, as he searches the galaxy for somebody who understands him. |
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] Performs in Merit University's Production of "Groot: The Musical" Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], will be performing in the Merit University Theatre Group's production of "Groot: The Musical". [LAST NAME], a [CLASSIFICATION] [MAJOR] major, will play the role of [ROLE] in the production. The musical, written by John Smith, follows Groot, a linguistically challenged alien tree, as he searches the galaxy for somebody to talk to. The play will run Nov. 9-13 in Merit University’s Performing Arts Center. The cost is $8 for general admission, $5 for MU faculty and staff, and free for MU students with identification. |
Note: The spreadsheet used in this sample story includes placeholders for the student's year in school (eg. sophomore, junior) and the role they played the production (eg. Groot, director, lighting technician).
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 Perform in Merit University’s Production of “Groot: The Musical” Opening: The Merit University Theatre Group will present “Groot: The Musical” beginning Nov. 9. The following local students are part of the cast and crew: Repeating: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], a [CLASSIFICATION] [MAJOR] major, will play the role of [ROLE] in the production. Closing: The musical, written by John Smith, follows Groot, a linguistically challenged alien tree, as he searches the galaxy for somebody to talk to. The play will run Nov. 9-13 in Merit University’s Performing Arts Center. The cost is $8 for general admission, $5 for MU faculty and staff, and free for MU students with identification. |
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.
