New Social Media Tool Celebrates, Publicizes Student Achievements

Bristol, R.I. – Made the Dean’s List? Went abroad? Volunteered? There’s a Merit badge for that.

Roger Williams University has expanded its partnership with Merit Pages, a new, online platform that allows the University to recognize students through virtual achievement badges awarded for collegiate experiences ranging from community projects to academic achievements to conference presentations and more.

“The Merit Pages platform is essentially a 21^st century version of the hometown newspaper outreach that colleges have used for decades,” says Brian E. Clark, the University’s director of public affairs. “Whether for Dean’s List, graduation or a specific academic achievement that we elect to publicize, the system still targets hometown papers but also gets the news out via social media and to a network of key stakeholders.”

Hundreds of colleges in the U.S. use Merit to recognize and promote student achievements by creating personalized Merit pages for each student. These Merit pages for RWU students are automatically updated when the University’s Public Affairs team elects to publicize student accomplishments. The team creates Merit achievements for all Dean's List appointments, all Graduation announcements and select other student accomplishments, particularly when they apply to large groups of students.

While the University does not publicize every individual achievement through Merit, students can add their own personal achievements and build out a more complete profile. By claiming his or her own page, a student can also populate the page and self-assign activity badges for club competitions, volunteer work, recreational and athletic events as well as internships and work experiences.

Updates to Merit pages are then shared with a network of stakeholders including the student’s high school and government officials near the student’s hometown. Students are encouraged to share their accomplishments with family and friends through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, news of an accomplishment will be distributed to the student’s hometown newspapers.

Roger Williams University junior Danielle Combs believes her Merit page can help serve the same role as a LinkedIn page to showcase her campus activities and achievements.

“When I first learned about my Merit page, I decided that I could use the page as a tool and help fill in the profile with my other activities and information in addition to the individual achievements that I was awarded by the University,” says Combs. “In the future, I do think I can use the page as something similar to a LinkedIn page that shows my achievements, involvement and experiences throughout my time at RWU and make myself more marketable in my future endeavors.”

Nearly every employer today conducts an online search of job candidates before making a hiring decision. Merit Pages was created to offer students a new kind of online profile that summarizes their college successes and helps demonstrate the valuable skills and experiences they’ve gained when interviewing for jobs and internships or applying for graduate school.

Students can use Merit pages as a tool to complement their co-curricular transcript. A co-curricular transcript is a student-initiated, comprehensive record of participation and achievements outside of the classroom – similar in format to an academic transcript – that can be accessed and printed through the student’s Org Sync account. Questions about Org Sync can be sent to Student Programs and Leadership Office at (401)254-3088 or by emailing studentprograms@rwu.edu.

Students can visit RWU's Merit page to see accomplishments from their peers and learn more about the program. Merit Pages also offers a help desk with a number of resources for students including a video tutorial on how to customize a Merit page.