Merit expands platform to provide free Merit pages for all high schools

For the first time, O’Fallon Township High Schools (OTHS) will have a way to see, share, and promote the everyday outcomes of each of their alumni at colleges and universities throughout the U.S.

OTHS is among the local high schools that now have access to a free Merit account, showing them which alumni are succeding in college by making the dean's list, studying abroad, participating in clubs, or earning scholarships. The school also has a public merit page (view it here: http://ofallon.il.meritpages.com).

"Most high schools are left in the dark about alumni outcomes after graduation, with at best only general information about admissions and progress available at a high price," said Colin Mathews, founder and president of Merit. "That makes it impossible to help current students see role models for college success, and for high schools to track outcomes in real time," he said.

Merit solves those issues by partnering with colleges and universities, more than 250 currently, that use the company's platform to document, promote and share the everyday activities, achievements, and outcomes of each one of their students.

Since launching in 2013, Merit has shared those updates with high schools via a free weekly email digest; now, those digests will link to a free Merit account that's customized for every high school in the United States.

Principals, guidance counselors, and other administrators or teachers will be able to log in and see stories about former students' current success at college.

Merit is an invaluable way for our school to follow and promote the achievements of our alumni.

Previously, schools found it challenging to track our former students beyond high school. Sharing these stories of alumni success can inspire our current students to achieve, and it helps our school demonstrate our role in positive outcomes.

The free high school Merit accounts include regular, real-time updates added by colleges and universities about each school's alumni; a directory of every college in the Merit network with analytical tools to discover alumni based on their interests and accomplishments; a customizable public Merit page for each high school that they can use as a landing page for students, families, and friends to discover stories about alumni; and more.

Merit connects every student's story to the people and organizations that care deeply about their success, thus making the big picture of what it means to move along the path from high school to college to career clearer for millions of people.

More than 250 colleges and universities currently use Merit to document and share student success with a network of families, high schools, legislators, communities, and employers. These institutions publish an average of 100,000 updates about students each month to more than 1.4 million student Merit pages that are connected to Merit's network of stakeholders.

Additional information is available at www.meritpages.com

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 11:28 AM with the headline "Merit expands platform to provide free Merit pages for all high schools."