This is the home of the Make Community team for the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project!
Here is where we have policy debates, project announcements, and assist community members in organizing events.
Everyone is welcome to comment on posts and participate in the discussions regardless of skill level or experience.
Get Involved
If you love WordPress and want to help us do these things, join in!
WP Credits has been growing steadily, and now that we’ve proven the model works, it’s time to look at what the next evolution of the program could look like to better fit students’ needs. You can catch up on where things stand in the latest update post.
A pilot opportunity
A college in the US has expressed interest in the program, but their students need a developer-focused track. This is a great opportunity to pilot a dev-specific path within WP Credits.
Where we need your help
This is where the community comes in. If you’re a developer or a WP teacher, we’d love your input on what specific contributions could make up a dev track — what should students be working on to build real, job-relevant skills?
Taking it a step further: if we structure this as a 2–3 level path (beginner to advanced), what contributions would you place in each tier?
We need at least the first tier defined by the end of August to stay on track for this pilot, so if you have thoughts, please share them soon.
The WordPress Community Team handles a steady stream of repetitive, detail-heavy tasks: vetting event and organizer applications, reviewing budgets, and checking sites for licensing and trademark compliance. Each one requires careful research across many public sources, and each one takes time that could go toward supporting our community.
To help with that, we’ve built Community Agents: a lightweight, community-owned platform of AI assistants that handle the legwork of these reviews while leaving every decision in human hands.
How it works
Each agent lives in a single SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ channel and is triggered with a simple slash command (for example, /tm-audit). It runs its research, visits the relevant public pages, and reports back its findings, clearly labeling what it has confirmed, what is unconfirmed, and what it couldn’t verify. A reviewer then confirms or corrects each step before anything is finalized. The agents are built on Python, Slack Bolt, and the Claude APIAPIAn API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways..
Two principles guide the whole platform:
Human-in-the-loopLoopThe Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. The agents gather and summarize; people decide. Nothing is auto-approved.
Privacy-conscious. The agents work only from what’s publicly available (names, WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ profiles, public links) and deliberately don’t ask for personal data such as email or home addresses.
The agents so far
/wc-vet: vets WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizer applications.
/sc-vet: vets WordPress Student Club organizer applications.
/meetup-vet: vets WordPress MeetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organizer applications.
/other-event-vet: vets other community events (Women WordPress Day, photo events, themed WordPress Days, etc).
/wc-budget-review: reviews WordCamp budgets, with live currency and cost checks.
/tm-audit: audits a website for GPLGPLGPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. and WordPress trademark compliance.
Want to use them, or have an idea?
If you’d like access to the Community Agents, or you have a manual, repetitive task you think an agent could help with, I’d love to hear from you: @clk87.
Welcome to the Monthly Education Buzz Report, your go-to source for highlights and updates on the WordPress Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, and WordPress Student Club education initiatives within the WordPress community. This report aims to celebrate, promote, and inform individuals across the WordPress community and beyond about the diverse educational endeavors underway.
WordPress Campus Connect
WordPress Campus Connect (WPCC) kept up a steady pace in June. The program has now completed 30 events in 2026 and 50 since it launched, reaching 6,343 students in total. Nine more events are on the calendar, and another 40 are moving through setup and planning. If you’d like to help shape one of those, join the conversation in #campusconnect on the Make WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.
Four campuses held sessions during the month:
WordPress Campus Connect Cumilla 2026 at Comilla Victoria Government College, Bangladesh, organized by Asiful Islam Sohag with mentorEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. Muhibul Haque (@devmuhib). It was the second Campus Connect event held in the city, covering the WordPress ecosystem, building a career with WordPress, and why the global community matters, with students creating their first WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ accounts during the session.
WordPress Campus Connect at Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto (UMP) in Purwokerto, Indonesia, on June 5, organized by Tri Hadianto with facilitators Supriyanto Soep and Arief Burhanuddin (@surip) from the Banyumas WordPress Community, and recapped by Devin Maeztri (@devinmaeztri). The session on building portfolios and careers with WordPress came with free .blog domains and hosting for attendees through the WordPress Education Initiative.
WordPress Campus Connect at Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU) in Dinajpur, Bangladesh, on June 11. A full recap of the event hasn’t been published yet, so look for more detail in a future report.
WordPress Campus Connect at Institut Teknologi Tangerang Selatan (ITTS) in Tangerang Selatan, Indonesia, on June 18, led by organizer Taufik Iqbal Ramdhani and a team of student volunteers. The event ran four sessions covering WordPress fundamentals, AI-assisted blogging, career paths, and Full Site Editing portfolio building.
The Cumilla event was a personal one for Sohag, who organized it in his hometown. “Cumilla is my city, and seeing students here get genuinely curious about WordPress — it’s hard to put into words,” he said, describing how students asked questions that went well beyond the basics: how to get started, where to contribute, and how open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. actually works. He’s already preparing a second campus as part of WordPress Campus Connect Cumilla 2026, with plans for more universities and more students to follow.
Indonesia had its own milestone this month, too. Universitas Ciputra Surabaya hosted its first-ever Campus Connect event on May 22, and organizers shared the recap in June. “From Zero to Digital Hero” drew 76 registrations and 55 checked-in attendees for an afternoon of WordPress Fundamentals, Full Site Editing, and GutenbergGutenbergThe Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc.
https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/BlockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. Editor sessions, capped off with a mini website design competition. A seven-person organizing team led by indramaryati (@indramaryati) and Salman Alfarisi put the event together with six speakers and facilitators.
On the operations side, the community team deployedDeployLaunching code from a local development environment to the production web server, so that it's available to visitors. the automated first-pass vetting system for new Campus Connect applications this month, building on the plan Rocío Valdivia (@_dorsvenabili) and Isotta Peira (@peiraisotta) outlined in May. New applications are now sorted into a simplified set of statuses and get an initial automated review before a human takes over, which should mean faster turnaround for organizers applying to host an event.
WPCC Universitas Muhammadiyah PurwokertoWPCC Universitas Muhammadiyah PurwokertoWPCC Comilla Victoria Government CollegeWPCC Comilla Victoria Government CollegeWPCC Comilla Victoria Government CollegeWPCC Universitas Ciputra Surabaya
WordPress Credits
WordPress Credits closed out the first half of the year with real growth. The program now counts 83 active mentorsEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. and 28 partner institutions, up from eight when the year began, with 275 students actively working on contribution projects and 199 graduates to date. That growth touched every part of the program in June, from a first high school partnership to a new leadership structure for mentors.
The program welcomed its first high school this month. Rita Robles Loaiza (@roblesloaiza) shared that Liceo HHC Experimental Bilingüe José Figueres Ferrer in Cartago, Costa Rica, launched a pilot with 13 tenth-grade students, who are using WordPress Credits to complete their community service requirement before graduation.
Mariano Sarmiento (@marianosarmiento) also gave an update on his pilot pairing students with a nonprofit. Working with Economistas sin Fronteras and UDIT, the students completed onboarding and the Beginner WordPress User course, then took on their first real case with Odón Solar. After a co-creation session to map out the client’s goals, audiences, and needs, the students are now turning that research into the site’s first UXUXUX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. structure, with Sarmiento mentoring along the way. The plan is to document the process closely enough that it can be repeated as a model for future pilots.
The team also updated the 150-hour WordPress Credits course this month and is finishing updates to the 50-hour course. Students partway through a lesson won’t lose progress, though some may notice small changes to the content. Alongside that, a new Regional/Country Mentor Lead role is rolling out across the mentor structure, giving experienced mentors a way to lead recruitment, onboarding, and institutional partnerships within their own region or country.
WordPress Credits also had a strong showing at WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe 2026 in Kraków. The event hosted its first dedicated Education Track and Education Table, where students from Kraków University of Technology, Kraków University of Economics, and VIII LO high school presented projects, including WapuuGo, a gamified WordPress learning platform for younger students. At the Contributor DayContributor DayContributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ Education Table, 21 contributors took part, three people applied to become mentors, and two institutions—Haaga-Helia University and SAE Creative Media Education—applied to join the program. Kraków University of Technology also formally recognized Matt Mullenweg during the event. That momentum builds on an earlier look at WordPress education in Poland, where universities and secondary schools alike are using the program for hands-on open source contribution.
Isotta Peira (@peiraisotta) wrapped up the first half of the year with a mid-year update on WordPress Credits, covering plans for a public program dashboard, new ways for students to contribute beyond the current course structure, and a more formal graduate retention program.
Finally, @annezazu will be sharing updates on the upcoming WordPress 7.1 release with students so that they can shadow the experience.
WordPress Student Clubs
A WordPress Student Club held its Introduction to WordPress workshop this month, organized by Lorna Murillo. The session covered what WordPress is, how it’s used to build websites, and foundational concepts like domains, hosting, and user management, along with a tour of the WordPress dashboard. Murillo said the turnout and curiosity from participants was a strong start, with more sessions planned as the club looks to keep the momentum going.
Other Happenings
WordPress Credits, WordPress Campus Connect, and WordPress Student Clubs got some outside attention this month, too. On the WP Tavern podcast, Destiny Kanno, Anand Upadhyay, and Maciej Pilarski talked through how the three programs work together to build a complete education ecosystem within WordPress, from a student’s first workshop through to becoming an active contributor.
The Community Team chat usually takes place on the first Thursday of every month in the #community-team channel on SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. This month’s meeting was pushed from June 4 to June 11 due to WordCamp Europe 2026.
This meeting is meant for all contributors on the team and everyone who is interested in taking part in the work the Community Team does. Feel free to join, even if you are not currently active in the team.
As we tried last month, we’ll run this as a single open meeting starting on Thursday, June 11, 2026, at 12:00 UTC, and keep the discussion open for 12 hours. Drop in whenever works for you, leave your check-in and thoughts on any of the topics below, and carry on with your day. The May meeting used this same open 12-hour format. (Make WordPress)
If you wish to add points to discuss, comment on this post or reach out to one of the Community Team reps. It does not need to be a blog post yet; the topic can also be discussed during the meeting.
Check-ins: Program and event supporters / Contributors
Please share your updates in the meeting thread:
What have you been doing and how is it going?
What did you accomplish after the last meeting?
Are there any blockers?
Can other team members help you in some way?
Highlights to note
Here are a few things everyone should be aware of:
How to Bring Your Community to Make WordPress Slack — Local meetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. groups, locale communities, and flagship events can now request dedicated channels in Make WordPress Slack. Communities are asked to join #community-slack-migration and share their group name, Meetup.com URLURLA specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org or equivalent community page, and the channels they need created. This was listed as the latest Community Team post on June 9. (Make WordPress)
Open Source Starts in the Classroom: WordPress Education in Poland — A look at how WordPress Credits, Campus Connect, and student showcases are growing in Poland, including university and high school participation ahead of WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe 2026. (Make WordPress)
WCEU 2026 Contributor Day: Community Team Agenda — The Community Team table at WordCamp Europe focused on meetup program health, GatherPress, contributor onboarding, the Contributor Dashboard, and hands-on support tasks. This meeting is a good place to collect follow-up reflections and action items from WCEUWCEUWordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event.. (Make WordPress)
Announcements
Community Slack migrationMigrationMoving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies.: Communities interested in joining Make WordPress Slack can now begin requesting channels through #community-slack-migration. This is especially relevant for local meetup communities, locale groups, and event teams that want to connect more directly with the broader WordPress project. Link: How to Bring Your Community to Make WordPress Slack
WordCamp India 2027 host city applications: Applications are open until the end of June 2026. The review by Community Team managers is expected in mid-July, with the host city announcement planned for early August 2026. Link: WordCamp India 2027: What’s Next?
This is your chance to discuss things that weren’t on the meeting agenda.
We invite you to use this opportunity to share anything you want with the team. If you have a topic you’d like to discuss, add it to the comments of this post and we’ll try to update the agenda accordingly.
Welcome to the Monthly Education Buzz Report, your go-to source for highlights and updates on the WordPress Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, and WordPress Student Club education initiatives within the WordPress community. This report aims to celebrate, promote, and inform individuals across the WordPress community and beyond about the diverse educational endeavors underway.
WordPress Campus Connect
WordPress Campus Connect (WPCC) closed out May with the program’s strongest numbers yet. The program has now completed 25 events in 2026 and 45 events all time, reaching more than 6,200 total attendees across its lifetime. Six events are currently scheduled, and 31 more are in setup or early planning stages — the largest pipeline the program has seen. If you’re working on an application or just getting started, the #campusconnect channel in the Make WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ is the right place to connect with the team and get your questions answered.
Completed Events
WPCC National Taitung University, Taiwan (May 24)
WordPress Campus Connect National Taitung University brought the program to Taiwan for the first time, welcoming students to a day of hands-on WordPress learning in Taitung. The event extends WPCC’s reach further across Asia Pacific and adds another new country to the program’s growing global map.
WPCC Masaka, Uganda
The WPCC Masaka multi-session program wrapped up in May after running since mid-April. The program introduced students in the Masaka region to WordPress and open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL., continuing the strong and sustained presence Campus Connect has built across Uganda, where it has now held events in Jinja, Lira, Kaliro, Masaka, and Kakumiro.
Upcoming and Scheduled Events
The following events are currently scheduled and open for registration or tracking:
WordPress Campus Connect Dhaka — Dhaka, Bangladesh (ongoing through August 31)
WordPress Campus Connect UCR Sede del Pacífico Esparza — Puntarenas, Costa Rica (August 29)
With 31 events in planning, the second half of 2026 is shaping up to be the busiest stretch in the program’s history. If you’re an educator or community organizer interested in hosting a Campus Connect event, you can apply here.
WPCC LleidaWPCC University of RajshahiWPCC University of RajshahiWPCC Liceo La Paz A CoruñaWPCC Liceo La Paz A Coruña
Streamlining the Application Pipeline
The WPCC team has been building toward a faster, more consistent experience for applicants. On May 8, Isotta Peira and Rocío Valdivia published a detailed post outlining plans to automate the steps in the application process that currently require the most manual effort: vetting, status transitions, organizer emails, and site creation. A vetting agent — already built by @piyopiyofox and being tested by @clk87 — will run hourly, write notes to the tracker, and move applications to a new “Needs Action” status so a human reviewer can take it from there.
The application form will also be updated to include a checkbox where applicants confirm the WPCC organizer agreement, removing the need for a separate agreement document. As a helpful clarification for anyone navigating the process: a venue agreement is not required for WPCC events held on campus with a professor present, as participants are typically covered by institutional insurance. The full technical plan is tracked in GitHub issue #1714. If you’ve vetted WPCC applications, or if you’ve been an organizer waiting on approval, feedback is welcome on GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/ or in the comments of the Make post.
Not long after, the Guadalajara WordPress Community in Mexico — roughly 6,000 miles from Elena’s home — used that same guide to organize their own photo walk. One student’s contribution, completed as part of her coursework, found its way to a community on a different continent and helped them run a better event. Elena contributed to the WordPress Photos team, which gains translated resources for global organizers. The Guadalajara community gained a ready-made guide in their language. And the open source ecosystem grew in exactly the way it’s supposed to — outward, and further than anyone expected.
This kind of contribution is exactly what WordPress Credits is designed to make possible: real work, with real downstream value, done by students who are just getting started.
What First-Time MentorsEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. Are Learning
On May 12, Jos Velasco published What We’re Learning from First-Time WP Credits Mentors: A Story from the Field on Make WordPress Community. The post walks through his experience guiding three students — each with a different pace, a different path, and a different relationship to open source — through their first contributions. It’s an honest, useful read that any current or prospective mentorEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. will recognize.
One of Jos’s takeaways is worth lifting here: students who contribute most meaningfully aren’t the ones who rush to finish — they’re the ones who find a project that feels genuinely worth doing. He also raises a question worth discussing across teams: what if contributing teams shared a short, timely list of what would actually be most useful right now, so students could choose tasks with clear downstream value? If you’re a team repTeam RepA Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. or an active mentor with thoughts on this, his post has space for that conversation.
Program Updates
Fidélitas University in Costa Rica launched its second cohort of WordPress Credits students on May 11, making it one of the first partner institutions to complete a full program cycle and return for a second round. New students from Fidélitas and other partner institutions are arriving throughout the month, and mentors are actively welcoming them into the relevant Slack channels and contribution areas.
On the mentor side, @marianosarmiento completed the mentor course this month, and @Sumit Singh has been actively guiding students who are contributing to the Core team. @Alvaro Gómez proposed an idea now being piloted in the program: connecting students with NGOs for their internship hours, giving students a meaningful contribution pathway while creating real value for civil society organizations. It’s a natural extension of the program’s ethos, and one worth watching as the pilot develops.
A workshop was also held in May to introduce students to Weglot, one of WordPress Credits’ tool sponsors, which offers students free access to a full year of the Weglot Business Plan (a €290 value) for website translation. Recordings of the workshop will be made available on WordPress.TV for students and mentors who want to review the material or catch up at their own pace.
WordPress Student Clubs
May brought two concrete milestones on the student club side. The Esparza Student Club at UCR Sede del Pacífico officially formed and held its inaugural event on May 20 in Esparza, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, with 50 students participating. The club adds another organized, student-led presence to the Campus Connect pipeline in Central America, where WordPress education has been building steadily.
The St Philomena College, Puttur student club in India also published its website this month, giving the club a public presence on campus and within the broader WordPress community.
Conversations are ongoing about how to make club websites easier to launch. One proposal gaining traction is a one-page format, with details pre-filled from tracker data to lower the setup burden for student organizers. The goal is a polished starting point that doesn’t require a team to build from scratch. If you’re thinking about starting a student club at your institution, the WordPress Student Club Guide is the right place to begin.
Other Happenings
Education Gets a Spotlight at WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe 2026
WordCamp Europe 2026 takes place June 4–6 at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre in Kraków, Poland, and education has emerged as one of the clearest threads running through this year’s program. Day two of the conference includes a dedicated education track:
Panel: Rethinking Learning in WordPress — featuring WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard, Training Team rep Rade Jekic, CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Team rep Benjamin Zekavica, Natalia Basiura, and Klaus Harris
Mary Hubbard on Why Education Matters for WordPress
In May, the WordCamp Europe Insights podcast published episode 10: Why Education Could Shape the Next Era of WordPress. WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard joins host Kasia Janoska for a wide-ranging conversation covering WordPress Credits, Campus Connect, mentoring, AI, and the case for bringing WordPress into educational institutions earlier and more broadly. It’s a good listen ahead of the conference, and an accessible entry point for anyone who wants to understand what these programs are building toward. Find it on YouTube or Spotify.
The WordPress.org/news post previewing WordCamp Europe 2026 also spotlights education as a defining theme this year, noting the full track of sessions on contributor onboarding, university partnerships, and open source learning that make this year’s program one of the most education-forward in the conference’s history.
This is a summary of the Community Team monthly meeting held on May 7, 2026. This month, the team tried something a little different: instead of two separate sessions, we ran a single open meeting starting at 12:00 UTC and kept it open for 12 hours. People could drop in when it worked for them, leave check-ins, share thoughts on the topics.
The meeting followed the agenda published here. If you weren’t able to join live, this recap is for you, and we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
📝 Meeting chat logs
May 7, 2026 12:00 UTC 12-hour meeting. Meeting host: @nazmul111 Notes: @mohkatz
We had participants from Bangladesh, Uganda, Spain, India, the Philippines, Switzerland, Kenya, and other corners of the WordPress world. A good mix of time zones for our first 12-hour open meeting experiment!
A special welcome to @Rashunda, who joined the Community Team meeting for the first time while preparing to attend WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Torino. Glad you took the leap and feel at home.
⚡️ Check-ins
It was great to hear from so many active corners of the community. Among the things people have been working on: mentoring WordCamps and Campus Connect events, organizing flagship and local WordCamps, reviewing applications and budgets, answering HelpScout emails, hosting Training Team meetings, working on handbook pages, supporting WordPress Credits students and mentorsEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues., reviewing themes, patterns, and plugins, and preparing for upcoming community events.
Some of the updates shared included work around WordCamp Asia 2026, WordCamp Masaka, WordCamp Rajshahi, WordCamp Barishal, WordCamp Portugal, WordCamp Galicia, WordCamp Málaga, WordCamp Europe 2026, WordCamp Belgrade, WordCamp Cebu, WordCamp Mannheim, WordCamp Bretagne, WordCamp Switzerland, WordCamp Philippines, and WordCamp Asia 2027.
There was also plenty of Campus Connect and education-related activity, including Campus Connect Rajshahi, Campus Connect Cumilla, Campus Connect Bukuumi, Campus Connect Lleida, possible future Campus Connect activity with a high school, and WordPress Credits mentoring.
Several contributors are also helping new or growing existing meetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. communities, including WordPress Nairobi, WordPress Jinja, WordPress Nakuru, Bhola WordPress Meetup, and a possible future Lugano meetup. As @nazmul111 and others put it during the meeting: “There are lots of events happening.” And yes, there really are!
✨ Highlights
A few things worth noting from the agenda that came up during the session:
Meetup Formats That Work: How WordPress Nairobi Turned a Meetup into a Hands-On Workshop by Juan Hernando. A practical case study, with props to Jesse Mwangi for sharing his experience, on how the Nairobi community reimagined the standard meetup format to increase engagement and hands-on learning. Worth a read for any organizer looking to shake things up.
WordPress Academy for Young People in Kraków by Sebastian Misniakiewicz. A look at bringing WordPress education to young and beginner audiences in Kraków, ahead of WordCamp Europe 2026. A strong example of community-driven outreach and a model worth considering for other host cities.
📣 Announcements
A few recent announcements and updates were shared:
WordCamp India 2027: What’s Next? by Karen Arnold. WordCamp India will become the fourth flagship WordCamp, joining WordCamp Europe, WordCamp US, and WordCamp Asia. Host city applications are open, with a deadline at the end of June 2026.
Introducing the WordPress Facilitator Training Program by Destiny Kanno. This new program is aimed at equipping WordPress community members with the skills to lead sessions, workshops, and discussions more effectively.
These were the main questions and topics that sparked conversation.
Could we create a regular space for organizers to share experiences?
@unintended8 raised a useful open floor question after having a couple of calls with event organizers where people shared tips, experiments, lessons learned, and things that worked or did not work at past events. The conversations were valuable, but they happened by chance. So the question was: how could we create a regular space to share these conversations?
Several ideas came up. @mosescursor suggested adding a session into the SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ meeting or introducing themes for Community Team meetings. @mohkatz suggested something like monthly community organizers office hoursOffice HoursDefined times when the Global Community Team are in the #community-events Slack channel. If there is anything you would like to discuss – you do not need to inform them in advance.You are very welcome to drop into any of the Community Team Slack channels at any time., with both live Zoom or Google Meet sessions and async Slack participation for those unable to attend live. @aquila20 and @yoga1103 agreed with the idea.
There was also discussion about where this should live. @unintended8 suggested that #community-events is probably the natural home, but conversations can easily get buried there. A possible combination emerged: a live call where organizers can speak freely, paired with a recap on Make Community or a pinned shared board/document to collect broader lessons and ideas.
@harmonyromo suggested creating some kind of board or document that could be pinned to the channel so ideas stay collected and easier to revisit.
The question isn’t fully resolved. What do you think? Leave a comment below.
How can we better support mentorEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. and program supporterProgram SupporterCommunity Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. pipelines?
@adityakane raised another important point: there are quite a few people in the pipeline for mentoring events or becoming program supporters, and this may need more eyes and hands to help move things along.
@unintended8 suggested getting this sorted out by the end of the following week.
📌 Open posts for discussion: Your input matters
Check out these new and ongoing discussions needing review, feedback, thoughts, and comments.
Peer Review Needed: Hands-On WordPress Meetup Activity Library by Destiny Kanno. Meetup organizers consistently hear that attendees want to do things with WordPress, not just watch presentations, but building a structured 30–60 minute hands-on activity from scratch is a real barrier. This post proposes a shared activity library and is asking for community peer review before moving forward. If you organize meetupsMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., this one is especially worth your time.
Community Summit alongside a flagship event for 2027 or 2028 by Patricia Brun. A proposal to explore whether the next Community Summit could be located with a flagship WordCamp event in 2027 or 2028. The post outlines the rationale, potential formats, and invites community input. Worth reading to understand where this conversation stands.
Request for Feedback: Guide to Speaking at Meetups and WordCamps about the Core AI Projects by Jonathan Bossenger. The AI team is seeking community input on a guide designed to help contributors speak about WordPress’s coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. AI efforts at local events. Your feedback, especially from organizers and frequent speakers, is welcome.
🎤 Open floor
The open floor also included a call for volunteers to facilitate future meetings. @mohkatz offered to help facilitate a future meeting after being encouraged by @mosescursor and @nazmul111. Thank you!
There was also a nice side conversation around a possible Lugano meetup. @Rashunda shared interest in gathering WordPress users in the Swiss Italian area, possibly leading to a future WordCamp Lugano. @patricia70 offered to help connect with previous co-organizers and pointed to the WordCamp Switzerland 2026 call for organizers, where Italian-speaking organizers would be especially welcome.
💬 Join the conversation
If any of these topics sparked a thought, especially the 12-hour open meeting format, a regular space for organizer knowledge-sharing, or the mentoring and program supporter pipeline, drop a comment below. These conversations are better with more voices.
🙋 Call for meeting facilitators
Community Team monthly meetings can be facilitated by any team member. It’s a great way to engage with the broader community. If you’re interested in hosting a future meeting, reach out to one of the Team Reps: @adityakane, @thehopemonger, @unintended8, or @webtechpooja.
⏰ Next Meetings
Community Team meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month, with one or two sessions to accommodate different time zones, in the #community-team channel on Slack.
Our next meeting(s) will be held on Thursday, June 4, 2026:
Keep an eye on Make/Community for the next agenda, and we hope to see you there!
This post shares the experience ofJos Velasco, a first-time mentorEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. in theWordPress Credits program, and what his cohort revealed about how mentorsEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. and students navigate their first open-source contribution together. As the program grows, stories like this help us refine how we onboard, scope projects, and connect students to the wider community.
The WordPress Credits program pairs students with community contributors who guide them through their first open-source contribution. The framework is simple on paper: a mentor, a student, an immediate contribution opportunity, and a finish line. In practice, every cohort surfaces something new about what makes the program work.
This is a look at one mentor’s first cohort: three students, three different paths, and a few takeaways that other current and future mentors will recognize.
The cohort
Jos took on three mentees, all new to open-source contribution. Before choosing a contribution path, students complete an onboarding phase on Learn WordPress, with curated lessons, Playground sandboxes, and quizzes.
That onboarding phase is solid, but it can take longer than expected, both for students and for mentors. There’s a lot of material, and the schedule needs to flex around real lives. The trickiest part isn’t the curriculum: it’s the balance every mentor has to strike between enabling students’ potential and not doing the work for them. Open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. isn’t an obligation. Part of mentoring is helping students want to contribute, by showing them why it matters and what they get out of it, rather than pushing them through a checklist.
Each of the three students landed in a different place.
Gabi: Photos as a creative outlet
Gabi Hawkins works as an IT technician moving toward web development. She chose Photos, which wasn’t directly tied to her career path but suited who she is: a visual person drawn to front-end work. Her submissions reflect that, a Japanese pagoda lit at night, jellyfish in deep blue water, koi beside a rock-lined path. Not test shots. Photos from someone with an eye.
A small, instructive snag: Gabi met her project requirements on time, but her certificate was delayed because she filled out the feedback form using a different email than the one on her WP Credits profile. The course system didn’t detect her completion. A small reminder for mentors and students alike to double-check that emails match across systems, especially when graduation is on the line.
T’Kai Monet is a full-time student and a full-time mom of a newborn. Her schedule was, predictably, unpredictable. She originally chose Themes and switched to Photos when time was tight, a smart pivot. What stood out wasn’t her output, though, but how she participated.
She attended a WordPress meetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. at 2:30 a.m., not because she couldn’t sleep, but because she was already up with the baby and decided to make the most of it. She wrote about it as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. And in a global, async community, it kind of is.
This is one of the most important things any new contributor can internalize: the conversation will happen across time zones, and showing up in the rhythm that works for you is showing up.
Noah: Finding a meaningful path, not just a completable one
Noah Mobes spent real time early on looking for a path that felt meaningful, rather than the easiest one to finish. After working on Good First Bugs for CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., he landed on WordPress Playground blueprints, small files that spin up pre-configured WordPress environments instantly, with no hosting required.
He created blueprints for Hello Dolly and Disable Comments, opened pull requests in the official GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/ repository, and reached out to the pluginPluginA plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. authors. The PRs weren’t merged before the program closed, but he documented his process and delivered a wrap-up presentation on WordPress.tv. His own framing: “this is certainly not the end for me in the WP ecosystem.” That attitude, and the documentation trail he left, is exactly what sustainable contribution looks like.
This plugin continues to be an inspiration for where to start extending WordPress
The moment that mattered most: reaching out directly
While T’Kai was submitting photos, several weren’t getting approved. The Photo Directory has real standards around quality and description, and queues get long when many students are finishing at the same time or when big events collide.
Sharing links and documentation didn’t move things. What did was going to the Photos Team page, finding the most active moderators listed there, and reaching out directly.
That message reached Michelle Frechette, who has contributed over 360 photos to the directory and has been part of this community for years. She responded immediately, explained exactly why the submissions weren’t passing, and offered to review T’Kai’s photos before she sent more.
That single conversation did what weeks of links hadn’t.
This is the lesson worth leading with for every new contributor: the WordPress community has no boundaries. People will help if you reach out to them. Not eventually, not after a queue, not via a form. Directly, by name, in the open.
What we’d change: scope projects around what teams actually need
The “30 photos to the Photo Directory” framing comes from how WP Credits structures its immediate contribution opportunities: each participating team defines a minimum deliverable that signals the student has made a meaningful, complete contribution, 30 CC0-licensed photos for the Photo Directory, a theme review for the Themes team, a Good First Bug worked on during a Bug Scrub for Core, and so on. That baseline matters. It gives students something concrete to aim at, gives mentors a way to measure progress, and gives each contributing team a consistent definition of “enough.” So this isn’t a critique of using a number as a goal.
But going through the cohort surfaced a hunch worth sharing. From experience organizing meetupsMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. in the LATAM community and producing video, it often feels like organizers are short on the kind of CC0 imagery they need: photos for event pages, social posts, recap posts, banners. So one alternative framing for the photo path could be: contribute photos that WordPress meetup organizers can actually use. That’s not a researched conclusion, just a sense from being on the organizer side of things.
What’s more interesting is where that hunch points. In a recent conversation, Isotta floated a bigger idea worth surfacing here: what if we asked the Photo Team, and other contributing teams, what kinds of contributions they actually need right now, and turned those into specific tasks for students?
That’s a meaningful shift. Instead of each team defining a generic minimum (any 30 photos, any theme review, any Good First Bug), teams could periodically share a short list of what would be most useful at a given moment, photos of specific subjects, theme reviews in a particular categoryCategoryThe 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging., bugs in a specific component. Mentors and students could then choose from that list, knowing the work has a clear downstream use.
The finish line stays. The direction sharpens. And students learn the most important habit in open source: thinking about who will use your contribution before you make it.
This is a conversation worth opening up to the wider team. If you’re a contributing team repTeam RepA Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. and have thoughts on what your team would surface as “high-impact tasks for students right now,” the comments below are a good place to start.
Takeaways for current and future mentors
A few things worth carrying into your own cohort:
Lead with the community early. Don’t wait until something gets stuck to point students toward direct outreach in SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/, on Make blogs, and on team pages. The lesson “you can just ask someone” lands better when it’s framed as a first move, not a rescue.
Talk to the team your student is contributing to. Beyond the minimum deliverable, ask the contributing team what would be most useful right now. A short conversation at the start can turn a generic quota into a project with a clear downstream use, and gives the student a real audience to design for.
Respect async as the default. Your students may show up at 2:30 a.m. their time, on a Saturday, between feedings, between shifts. That counts. Build your check-ins to accommodate it.
Help students find meaning, not just completion. The most durable contributions come from students who chose a path because it mattered to them. Give them room to explore early, even if it costs a week.
Sweat the small operational details. Email mismatches, profile inconsistencies, missing form fields, these can hold up certificates and graduation. Catch them at the start.
Document the wrap-up. A blog post, a WordPress.tv presentation, a profile update — documenting the journey turns one student’s experience into a resource the next cohort can learn from. Noah’s wrap-up is a good example of what this can look like.
And of course, thanks to Gabi, T’Kai, and Noah for trusting the program with their first open-source contribution, and for letting their experience help shape what comes next.
Are you mentoring, or thinking about it?
If you’re a current WP Credits mentor with stories of your own, what worked, what you’d change, what surprised you, drop a comment below. The more cohorts we document, the better the program gets for everyone.
If you’re considering becoming a mentor, the Mentor Guide is the right place to start. The interest in this role continues to grow, and that’s a good sign of where WordPress is headed.
Welcome to the Monthly Education Buzz Report, your go-to source for highlights and updates on the WordPress Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, and WordPress Student Club education initiatives within the WordPress community. This report aims to celebrate, promote, and inform individuals across the WordPress community and beyond about the diverse educational endeavors underway.
WordPress Campus Connect
WordPress Campus Connect (WPCC) continued its global expansion in April, with completed events across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. The program’s cumulative numbers now stand at 5,586 attendees across 71 participating institutions, with 22 events completed in 2026 alone and 42 completed all time.
Completed Events
WPCC Rajshahi, Bangladesh — North Bengal International University (March 26)
WordPress Campus Connect Rajshahi held an event at North Bengal International University with around 80 attendees. The session covered an introduction to WordPress, career opportunities in the WordPress ecosystem, and how AI features can be implemented within WordPress. Organizer Nazmul Hosen reported that the participants were enthusiastic, curious, and highly interactive throughout the program, and thanked the university for their warm support and hospitality.
WPCC Ekuitas University, Bandung, Indonesia (April 9)
Ekuitas University hosted a WordPress Campus Connect event focused on “Native WordPress” using Full Site Editing and helping students take their first steps into the WordPress ecosystem. Organizer Rahmat Gumilar thanked mentorEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.@devinmaeztri (Devin Maeztri), along with @piyopiyofox (Destiny Kanno) and @devmuhib (Muhibul Haque) from the WPCC team, and @debciriaco (Debora Ciriaco) for the design inspiration behind the event website. The team is now moving toward establishing a WordPress Student Club at Ekuitas and plans to share their experience with the Indonesia Career Center Network (ICCN) to help scale Campus Connect’s impact across the country. Full recap and gallery.
WPCC Masaka, Uganda (April 11)
WPCC Masaka brought 100+ students together to build their first WordPress websites. @ssebuwufumoses (Ssebuwufu Moses) shared a recap describing how students went “from Notepad to WordPress” in a single day. Read the full recap.
WPCC University of Pula, Croatia (April 15) — First WPCC in Croatia
The Faculty of Informatics at the University of Pula hosted the first-ever WordPress Campus Connect event in Croatia. Melita Poropat reported a day filled with practical learning and conversations spanning accessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility), performance, AI, content, and the real process behind WordPress projects. Many students expressed interest in going deeper into WordPress design, development, and hands-on project work. The organizing team is already looking ahead to more workshops and opportunities for students to explore the WordPress ecosystem.
WPCC Pundra University of Science & Technology, Bogura, Bangladesh (April 20)
WordPress Campus Connect came to Pundra University of Science & Technology with 70 attendees. The event introduced students to the WordPress ecosystem, career opportunities, and the importance of community involvement. Students created WordPress accounts, joined a live workshop, and gained hands-on experience with basic website creation. Organizer @noruzzaman thanked the CSE Department, and recognized @devmuhib (Muhibul Haque) for supporting the event as a mentor, and @clk87 and Maruti for their guidance and encouragement.
WPCC Kakumiro 2026, Uganda (April 25)
WordPress Campus Connect Kakumiro took place at St. Edwards SS Bukuumi, bringing WordPress learning to students in the Kakumiro district. This event continues the strong presence of Campus Connect across Uganda, where the program has now held events in Jinja, Lira, Kaliro, Masaka, and Kakumiro.
WPCC Ekuitas UniversityWPCC Ekuitas UniversityWPCC Pundra University of Science & TechnologyWPCC Pundra University of Science & TechnologyWPCC Faculty of InformaticsWPCC RajshahiNorth Bengal International UniversityWPCC RajshahiNorth Bengal International University
The WordPress Credits program continued its strong growth trajectory in April, with new institutions, more graduates, and increased student activity.
Program Numbers
70 active mentorsEvent SupporterEvent Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. (up from 66 in March)
306 students currently active in the program (up from 292)
66 graduates to date
21 partner institutions across five regions
New Partner Institutions
Three new institutions joined the program in April, bringing the total to 21:
E-zone School of Computing (Uganda) — the first WordPress Credits institution in Africa, connected through @stephendumba and @mosescursor (Moses)
D Y Patil Agriculture and Technical University (Talsande, Kolhapur, India) — signed during WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Asia, facilitated by @webtechpooja (Pooja Derashri) and @anandau14 (Anand Upadhyay)
One additional institution in the pipeline
The addition of E-zone School of Computing is a milestone: it marks the first WordPress Credits partner institution on the African continent, adding a fifth geographic region to the program alongside Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
Institutional Highlights
Universidad Fidélitas (San José, Costa Rica) is finishing its first cohort of WordPress Credits. @roblesloaiza (Rita Robles Loaiza) shared that their second cohort will begin on May 11, making Fidélitas one of the first institutions to complete a full program cycle and begin a second round.
Riga Nordic University (Riga, Latvia) announced that the university will participate in WordCamp Europe 2026 in Krakow, bringing WordPress Credits students and faculty into a flagship community event.
Several WordPress Credits-related meetupsMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. and events took place or were announced in April:
WordPress Student Clubs got a significant spotlight in April with a feature article on WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//news: WordPress Student Clubs Build Momentum, written by @webtechpooja (Pooja Derashri), an @bjmcsherry (Brett McSherry). The post documented how clubs are evolving from a follow-up to Campus Connect into a durable model for ongoing, student-led learning and community participation on campus.
The article described how organizers are finding success through small, repeatable activities rather than large events: regular learning sessions, peer-to-peer discussions, and small workshops that feel welcoming to beginners. Mentorship from local WordPress community members is helping students think through session structure and stay motivated. One organizer shared:
“Being a Student Club Organizer helped me improve my leadership and communication skills.” — Sanjeevni Kumari, WordPress Student Club Organizer, Mahila Engineering College, Ajmer
A notable example came from the International Women’s Day celebration in Ajmer, India, where around 50% of the 100 female attendees came from student clubs. For many, it was their first time participating in a broader community event.
Club Activity: ACERC Ajmer
On April 6, the WordPress Student Club at Aryabhatta College of Engineering & Research Center (ACERC) in Ajmer organized an interactive session for first-year students. Led by Vishal Israni and Vikas Kumar, the workshop featured a live demonstration of setting up WordPress on a localhost, an introduction to themes and plugins, and hands-on exposure to tools like Elementor and Fluent Forms. Students showed strong enthusiasm and curiosity throughout the session, actively engaging and asking insightful questions.
Clubs Forming From Campus Connect
The pattern of Campus Connect events seeding new student clubs continues. At Ekuitas University in Indonesia, the organizing team is now working to establish a WordPress Student Club following their April 9 Campus Connect event. In Croatia, the University of Pula team reported that students are already expressing interest in going deeper with WordPress beyond the initial event.
As @anandau14 (Anand Upadhyay) noted in the WordPress.org/news article: “With regular on-campus activities through WordPress Student Clubs, the real impact may become visible over the next couple of years, as a stronger WordPress ecosystem begins to take shape within campuses.”
Student Club ACERC AjmerStudent Club ACERC Ajmer
Other Happenings
Education at WordCamp Asia 2026
WordCamp Asia 2026 in Mumbai (April 9–11) was a major moment for WordPress education. The programs had a visible presence across Contributor DayContributor DayContributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/, conference sessions, and the Community Booth.
An Education table at Contributor Day was led by @hiabhaykulkarni (Abhay Kulkarni), and @gomp (Maciej Pilarski). The table welcomed students, educators, and community members who worked on documentation improvements, shared campus experiences, and brainstormed ideas for growing WordPress in academic communities. At the Community Booth, multiple visitors asked about Campus Connect and WordPress Credits, leading to follow-up conversations on Slack.
A panel on WordPress education initiatives brought together Campus Connect co-founder Anand Upadhyay, WordPress Credits admin Maciej Pilarski, and Raitis Sevelis (Head of Product at WPBakery and lecturer at Riga Nordic University). In the closing keynote, WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard described education as the project’s most important growth lever.
WordPress Facilitator Training Program Launched
The WordPress Facilitator Training Program was announced in April by @piyopiyofox (Destiny Kanno). This free, open, community-powered program equips anyone who knows WordPress to teach it to others. There’s no application process, no prerequisite credential, and no gatekeeping.
The response was enthusiastic. Rico F. Lüthi, a WordPress trainer, commented: “A structured program that supports exactly that is something I have been missing.”
AI-Powered Tools for Creating Learning Materials
As part of the Facilitator Training Program, a set of AI-powered tools for creating WordPress learning materials was published in the Learn WordPress GitHub repository. These include structured prompts (usable in any AI platform) and a Claude pluginPluginA plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. designed to help contributors co-write course content, create facilitation guides, and build facilitator slides in a standardized, WordPress-aligned way.
On April 30, Destiny Kanno led an online workshop walking contributors through the tools in action. The workshop recording is available on WordPress.tv.
WordPress Academy for Young People in Kraków
On April 20, over 60 high school students from Kraków took part in the WordPress Academy, a pilot initiative organized by the WordCamp Europe Local Team in collaboration with Klaster Zabłocie. Led by @sebastianm (Sebastian Miśniakiewicz), the five-hour event featured sessions on getting started with WordPress, SEO and accessibility, AI in WordPress, and a live-coding demo.
Students are now working on at least seven WordPress projects, from a new school website to a cookbook and a flashcard app. The organizers have encouraged students to present their projects at WordCamp Europe 2026 in Kraków this June, where @nataliabasiura (Natalia Basiura) will speak on the Rethinking Learning in WordPress education panel. WordCamp Europe 2026 will also feature an Education Table during Contributor Day and a dedicated Education track on June 6.
The Community Team chat takes place the first Thursday of every month in the #community-team channel on SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.
This meeting is meant for all contributors on the team and everyone who is interested in taking part in some of the things our team does. Feel free to join us, even if you are not currently active in the team!
We’re trying something new this month. Instead of two separate sessions, we’re running a single open meeting starting at Thursday, 7th May 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC and staying open for 12 hours. Drop in whenever works for you, leave your check-in and thoughts on any of the topics below, and carry on with your day. There’s no fixed end time, just show up when you can.
If you wish to add points to discuss, comment on this post or reach out to one of the team reps: @adityakane, @thehopemonger, @unintended8, @webtechpooja. It does not need to be a blog post yet, the topic can be discussed during the meeting.
⚡️ Check-ins: Program and event supporters / Contributors
What have you been doing and how is it going?
What did you accomplish after the last meeting?
Are there any blockers?
Can other team members help you in some way?
🚀 Highlights to note
Here are a few things everyone should be aware of.
WordCamp Asia 2026 Community Booth: A Retrospectiveby Destiny Kanno and Recap: Community Team at WordCamp Asia 2026 Contributor Day by Devin Maeztri. Two posts covering the Community Team’s presence at WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Asia 2026 in Mumbai: what worked at the booth, lessons learned, and how the Contributor DayContributor DayContributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ went.
Meetup Formats That Work: How WordPress Nairobi Turned a Meetup into a Hands-On Workshopby Juan Hernando. A practical case study, with props to Jesse Mwangi for sharing his experience, on how the Nairobi community reimagined the standard meetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. format to increase engagement and hands-on learning. Worth a read for any organizer looking to shake things up.
WordPress Academy for Young People in Krakówby Sebastian Misniakiewicz. A look at bringing WordPress education to young and beginner audiences in Kraków, ahead of WordCamp Europe 2026. A strong example of community-driven outreach and a model worth considering for other host cities.
📢 Announcements
WordCamp India 2027: What’s Next?by Karen Arnold. WordCamp India will become the fourth flagship WordCamp, joining WordCamp Europe, WordCamp US, and WordCamp Asia. This post outlines the timeline for host city applications (open now, deadline end of June 2026) and what comes next.
Introducing the WordPress Facilitator Training Programby Destiny Kanno. A new program aimed at equipping WordPress community members with the skills to lead sessions, workshops, and discussions more effectively. The post outlines the goals, format, and how to get involved.
🎉 Announcing our 2026 Global Partners + Welcoming Bluehost as a 2026 Global Partnerby Harmony Romo, this post announces the 2026 Global Partners lineup: Automattic (Jetpack + WordPress.comWordPress.comAn online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/) and Hostinger as Global Leaders, Woo as Regional Powerhouse — and Bluehost joining shortly after as another Global Leader. These partnerships help sustain WordPress community events worldwide.
📝 Open posts
Check out these new and ongoing discussions needing review, feedback, thoughts, and comments.
Peer Review Needed: Hands-On WordPress Meetup Activity Libraryby Destiny Kanno. Meetup organizers consistently hear that attendees want to do things with WordPress, not just watch presentations, but building a structured 30–60 minute hands-on activity from scratch is a real barrier. This post proposes a shared activity library and is asking for community peer review before moving forward. If you organize meetupsMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., this one is especially worth your time.
Community Summit alongside a flagship event for 2027 or 2028by Patricia Brun. A proposal to explore whether the next Community Summit could be located with a flagship WordCamp event in 2027 or 2028. The post outlines the rationale, potential formats, and invites community input — with a deadline for comments that has now passed. Worth reading to understand where this conversation stands.
Request for Feedback: Guide to Speaking at Meetups and WordCamps about the Core AI Projectsby Jonathan Bossenger. The AI team is seeking community input on a guide designed to help contributors speak about WordPress’s coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. AI efforts at local events. Your feedback (especially from organizers and frequent speakers) is welcome.
🎤 Open floor
This is your chance to discuss things that weren’t on the meeting agenda.
We invite you to use this opportunity to share anything you want with the team. If you have a topic you’d like to discuss, add it to the comments of this post and we’ll try to update the agenda accordingly.
Hope to see you on Thursday, drop in anytime between 12:00 UTC and midnight UTC!
Automattic and Hostinger will be our Global Leaders, and Woo is our Regional Powerhouse sponsor this year. If you’d like to know everything that comes with that, it’s all here.
These three organizations are the driving force behind a year full of WordCamps, MeetupsMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., Campus Connect, and everything in between. Their support covers the real, unglamorous stuff that makes events happen: venue costs, catering, A/V, Meetup.com license fees for over 685 active groups worldwide, insurance, and more. In short, none of this works without them.
So: thank you. Genuinely. Every organizer who books a venue, every attendee who walks through the door of a WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more., every contributor who shows up to a MeetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., they’re all there, in part, because of what these partners make possible. That’s not a small thing.
Want to be part of the mission to expand WordPress access and education across the globe? Check out our sponsor page and apply today!
Here’s to a great 2026. 🙌
For WordCamp, Events and Meetup organizers: all 2026 event websites should display the 2026 Global Partners. For partners with multiple brands, please reach out to their points of contact to confirm which brand will be represented at your event.
