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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) had campuses reporting in from three countries this month, with one event drawing attention well beyond the WordPress community itself.
WPCC Perpus Soetta, held at the public library in Tegal, Indonesia, on August 9, organized by Kharis Sulistiyono (@kharisulistiyo). One participant built her first website using only her right hand after an arm injury, a moment organizers called one of the most inspiring of the year. The event went on to earn coverage from five local news outlets, including Puskapik and Times Indonesia.
WordPress Campus Connect Kolhapur opened its second season on August 29 at KIT’s College of Engineering, Kolhapur, India, organized by Makarand Mane (@mkrndmane). More than 100 students attended the hands-on workshop and built their first WordPress websites.
WordPress Campus Connect at IIM Udaipur and Pacific Udaipur, India, on August 31, organized by Niha Khan (@dr_niha_khan). More than 140 students took part in what she described as the first Campus Connect held in Rajasthan.
WordPress Campus Connect Surat kicked off its multi-campus series with a session at SSASIT on August 29, organized by Alkesh Miyani (@alkesh7) and the WordPress Surat Community. Two more campuses, VNSGU and TDEC, are scheduled to follow in September.
Two more events are in the works. St Philomena College (Autonomous) in Puttur, India, submitted its application on August 19, with organizers also hoping to start a WordPress Student Club on campus once the event is confirmed. And WPCC Sukkur IBA University in Pakistan is scheduled for September 7 after a wave of interest pushed expected attendance well past the original estimate, prompting organizer Jamshed Ali to ask the community for advice on scaling logistics and budget for a much larger crowd. If you’d like to help plan an event like these, 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/.
WordPress Credits enters September at 42 partner institutions across 16 countries and 91 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., with 191 students currently working on contribution projects and 352 graduates in total. August was by far the program’s biggest graduation month yet: 145 students completed their internship in a single month, close to 40 percent of every graduate the program has produced since it began. The completion queue is essentially clear, with just three students in pending review.
The team also launched wordpresseducation.org, a shared dashboard for mentors and students that replaces the old process of handing each 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. an individually filtered, password-protected spreadsheet view. Mentors got access in late August, giving them one place to see their students, meeting notes, and reports instead of piecing it together by hand. CUNY City Tech, the program’s first partnership with a US public university system, became the first partner to run the new WordPress Credits Developer Track, with 12 students starting the track this month.
WordPress Credits also had its first Education Table at 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. US 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/, held in Phoenix from August 16 to 19 alongside Campus Connect, Student Club, Faculty Training, and the AI Literacy through WordPress course. The table’s call for US-based mentors turned up Corey Hall (@coreyhall93), a community team contributor from South Carolina who joined as a mentor shortly after. Separately, Destiny Kanno opened a discussion on August 14 about what comes after WordPress Credits, looking at how a graduate retention path might work now that the program has added 150 graduates in just two months.
New cohorts kept arriving throughout August. Kishoreganj Polytechnic Institute in Bangladesh, confirmed as a partner in July, sent its first Credits students this month, most heading into Polyglots translation work. Students from Liceo Experimental Bilingüe José Figueres Ferrer in Costa Rica continued onboarding into the Costa Rican Spanish translation pilot Rita Robles Loaiza wrote up in July, while a wave of students from Universidad Fidélitas wrapped up their own internships, several contributing to the WordPress Photo Directory. Gabriel Loayza (@gabrielloayza) published eight original photographs documenting public high schools in Costa Rica, and Evelyn Masís Guillén published 38 photographs of heritage architecture in Cartago and San José, both with full 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) metadata. Elsewhere, Bangladesh Credits graduate Atikur Rahman (@atikur_rahman) completed a Bangla translation of a WordPress Credits course lesson, making the material easier to reach for future students in the region. Looking ahead, 52 students are now past their scheduled end date and awaiting final review, with another 130 due to finish between now and December, worth watching so the queue the program just cleared doesn’t build back up.
WordPress Facilitator Training Program
The WordPress Facilitator Training Program prepares people to teach WordPress topics through self-guided courses on Learn WordPress and facilitation guides for running two- or three-day workshops. In August, Pooja Derashri (@webtechpooja) shared a recap of the program’s first official in-person workshop, held in July at D. Y. Patil School of Engineering and Management.
More than 20 faculty members attended the two-day pilot and built their first personal WordPress sites, while getting a full walkthrough of Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, Student Club, and Credentials so they can help run these programs on campus going forward. Derashri also ran a separate WordPress Credits session for students, and had what she described as productive conversations with the school’s HOD, Dean, and Vice Chancellor about bringing WordPress into the curriculum and possibly into the formal grading system through WordPress Credits. She credited Snehal Kashid (@snehal5774) and Makarand Mane (@mkrndmane) for helping the workshop run smoothly.
WordPress Student Clubs
The WordPress Student Club at Ahmad’s Education in Dhaka, Bangladesh, kept up its momentum this month. On August 4, organizer Atikur Rahman hosted 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. where mentor Muhibul Haque (@devmuhib) introduced members to WordPress Credits, and the group is now preparing both to enroll in the course and to host its own Campus Connect event.
Get Involved
Education Initiatives
WordPress Education offers three practical ways for learners to develop skills, gain practical experience, and build confidence as 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. contributors.
WordPress Credits is working. Students around the world are contributing to real projects, earning academic recognition, and graduating with a 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/ profile they can point to. What we have not built yet is what happens after that.
Right now, graduates leave the program with no defined next step. That means a lot of the momentum we built together such as the onboarding, the mentorship, the contribution work, stops at the exact moment a graduate is most capable of giving something back.
The tracking issue for this work is 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/: https://github.com/WordPress/Community-Team/issues/1083
What We Are Proposing
We want to move WordPress Credits from a one-time experience to the first step in a longer contribution and career pathway. The proposal has three phases, starting with lightweight infrastructure changes and building toward a self-sustaining pipeline.
Main takeaways:
Give every graduate a clear next step. Right now the wrap-up flow ends without directing graduates anywhere specific. We want to change that with discipline-specific routing: dev-track graduates get pointed toward a WordPress Developer Certification and jobs.wordpress.net. Other tracks get equivalent routing based on what they contributed during the program.
Build a credential pathway graduates can see. The arc we are working toward: WordPress Credits (contribution program) → continued contribution → Developer credential received → ecosystem opportunity. We want graduates to be able to see the full path at the moment they finish the program, not discover it piece by piece after the fact.
Ensure students see their place in our contributing community. The arc we are working toward: WordPress Credits(contribution program) → continued contribution → peer mentoring → community leadership
Create scoped graduate contribution projects with Make teams. One of the most consistent barriers to returning is not knowing where to start. We want to work with Make WordPress teams to identify and tag real, appropriately scoped tasks that graduates can pick up. These are not new contribution areas — they are existing work made more accessible as a defined entry point.
Connect graduates to ecosystem opportunities. We are in conversations with ecosystem companies who have expressed interest in the WP Credits talent pipeline. The model we are exploring: companies fund certification exam seats for graduates, with one verifiable post-graduation contribution unlocking the seat. In return, companies get first access to graduates who pass and warm introductions to strong candidates. We are also pointing graduates to jobs.wordpress.net, where their WordPress.org contribution profile functions as a verified, public portfolio.
What We Are Looking For from the Community
This proposal touches several parts of the WordPress community, and we would love input before we move into execution:
Make team members: We want to collaborate on scoped graduate contribution projects: real tasks your team needs done, tagged as appropriate entry points for graduates returning to contribution. If you are on a Make team and interested in being part of this, please comment below or reach out in #wpcredits.
Ecosystem companies: If your company hires WordPress talent and is interested in exploring the exam seat model, we would love to talk. You can comment here or reach out directly.
Experienced contributors: If you have been through a structured contribution program yourself, whether WordPress Credits or something similar, we would love to hear what would have brought you back after graduation, and what would not have.
The full proposal includes a phased timeline, a tiered definition of what “returning to contribution” means, a 25% Tier 2 retention target for the dev-track pilot (benchmarked against comparable 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. programs), and a research foundation grounded in what has worked at LFX Mentorship, Outreachy, and GitHub Campus Experts.
We are not building everything at once. Phase 1 is infrastructure and one re-engagement message. Phase 2 is the dev-track pilot. Phase 3 is expansion to other tracks.
Feedback at any of these stages is welcome.
Questions or thoughts? Comment below or join the conversation in #wpcredits on the Making 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/.
When I stepped into the role of Program ManagerProgram ManagerProgram Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule. for WPCredits in Latin America, one of the goals I set for myself was to explore new ways of bringing students and educational institutions into the WordPress ecosystem.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a growing interest in contributing, but we’ve also identified a common challenge: many institutions want to participate but simply don’t know where to begin. While WordPress already offers well-established contribution areas, integrating an educational community requires clear processes, supporting materials, guidance, and methodologies that make that first contribution experience approachable.
With that in mind, over the past few months we’ve been working on a series of pilot projects. The goal is not to create new contribution areas, but rather to develop replicable models that make it easier for educational institutions to sustainably engage with the contribution opportunities that already exist within WordPress.
Today, I’d like to share the first two pilots we’ve been working on.
Pilot 1: A Replicable Methodology for Introducing New Users to WordPress
The first pilot emerged from a very special opportunity.
During Patrones Hermosos, an international camp organized by Tecnológico de Monterrey and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which came to Costa Rica for the very first time and was hosted at Universidad Fidélitas, we had the opportunity to introduce WordPress as part of the camp’s learning experience.
Three students from the second WPCredits cohort at Universidad Fidélitas took on the challenge of designing and delivering a complete WordPress workshop for 40 high school students participating in the camp.
Across three sessions, they guided participants through creating their first WordPress website using 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/ while introducing key concepts such as website structure, the difference between pages and posts, content creation, digital privacy, 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), and responsible publishing practices. By the end of the workshop, every participant had built and presented their own website, and the workshop achieved a 100% satisfaction rate.
My role in this pilot focused primarily on the educational side of the project. I worked alongside the team to design the learning experience, define the learning objectives, and develop the guides, templates, checklists, and supporting materials needed to both facilitate the workshop and document every stage of the process.
However, delivering a successful workshop was never the ultimate goal.
From the very beginning, we wanted the entire experience to become a reusable community resource. As a result, we developed a fully replicable guide that documents the methodology, roles, planning process, materials, recommendations, checklists, and evidence needed, so that any WPCredits student, university, or local WordPress community can organize a similar experience without having to start from scratch.
More than just a workshop, this pilot aims to demonstrate that an educational activity can also become a meaningful community contribution when it leaves behind open documentation and a methodology that others can adopt, improve, and reuse.
Pilot 2: A Replicable Model for Integrating Educational Institutions into WordPress Contribution Areas
The second pilot starts with a different question:
What does an educational institution need to successfully integrate into a WordPress contribution area and enable its students to contribute in an organized and sustainable way?
To answer that question, we selected Polyglots as the first contribution area where we’ll validate this methodology.
It’s important to clarify that this pilot is not simply about translating 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/. Translation is the environment where we’ll test a much broader process.
Our goal is to document the entire journey an educational institution follows – from deciding to participate in WPCredits to having students make meaningful contributions to the WordPress community. This includes preparing teachers and students, developing supporting materials, creating guides and templates, coordinating with the community, providing mentorship throughout the process, tracking progress, and documenting lessons learned.
This pilot will be carried out in collaboration with the Costa Rican Spanish Polyglots teamPolyglots TeamPolyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ to contribute to the translation of WordPress.org into Costa Rican Spanish (es_CR).
The first institution selected for this pilot is Liceo Experimental Bilingüe José Figueres Ferrer, the first high school in America to join the WPCredits program.
Thirteen students are participating in WPCredits as part of their Community Service Program, creating a unique opportunity to connect academic learning with real contributions to the WordPress project. Because the school is bilingual, students will also be able to leverage their English and Spanish language skills while contributing directly to the Polyglots community and supporting the localization of WordPress for Costa Rica.
As with the first pilot, the objective extends far beyond completing a single contribution. We want to document every step of the process and build a methodology that other educational institutions can reuse when integrating WordPress contribution areas into their own academic programs.
If this model proves successful, it can later be adapted to other contribution areas, reducing the learning curve for new institutions and making it easier for more students to begin contributing to WordPress.
First meeting with students from José Figueres Ferrer Experimental Bilingual High School as we kick off our second pilot program. 🚀
What We Hope to Learn
Although these two pilots focus on very different experiences, they share the same purpose.
We want to better understand what helps educational institutions become active participants in the WordPress ecosystem and how those experiences can be transformed into open, well-documented, and easily replicable models.
Each pilot will help us identify what works, what can be improved, and what resources can help universities, schools, and communities avoid starting from scratch when introducing WordPress into their educational and contribution initiatives.
As both pilots continue to evolve, I’ll be sharing the results, lessons learned, and resources we develop, with the hope that they can serve as a starting point for many other educational institutions around the world.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, or similar experiences. I truly believe that one of WordPress’s greatest strengths is that our best ideas grow when they’re built collaboratively.
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.
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.
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 marked a significant milestone for WordPress Educational Initiatives. For the first time ever, WCEUWCEUWordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. featured a dedicated Education Table 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/ and Education Track, bringing together students, 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., educators, and institutional partners to explore what it truly means to learn, teach, and contribute through WordPress.
But this wasn’t just about building websites.
A New Kind of Learning
The long-term health of the project depends on something less visible than market share: a steady, growing community of contributors who understand 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., care about its values, and have the skills to move it forward. That’s what WordPress educational initiatives are really about, and the direction of WordPress education has evolved to. Today, students aren’t just learning how to install a theme or configure a 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.. They are developing critical thinking, collaborative skills, and real-world project experience using open source tools. They are discovering how to contribute back to a global community. They are learning what it means to be part of something bigger than a grade.
Growing the next generation of contributors isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s essential to the sustainable future of WordPress as an open source project. The WordPress Credits Program, Campus Connect, and other education programs exist to create that pipeline, connecting universities, educators, and students directly with the contributor community, often for the first time. WordCamp Europe 2026 in Kraków was a significant milestone for these initiatives. Taking place in a city where we’ve been building genuine, long-term partnerships with universities and technical schools.
Student Showcase: Real Projects, Real Skills
One of the highlights of the Education Track was the Student Showcase, featuring work from students at Kraków University of Technology, Kraków University of Economics, and VIII LO high school. These weren’t toy projects. Students presented work developed over a full semester, demonstrating how they incorporated WordPress into advanced, professional-grade workflows.
The standout project was WapuuGo — a gamified WordPress learning platform designed for children aged 10 to 14. Students create blogs, share their work with peers, earn badges, and unlock custom Wapuu characters as they progress through the curriculum. The platform includes dedicated areas for teachers and parents, and it’s built entirely on WordPress. It’s a creative, thoughtful project that demonstrates just how versatile the platform can be when students approach it as a tool for solving real problems rather than just a CMS to learn.
What made it stand out was the approach: students weren’t just told to “make a website.” They were challenged to use WordPress as a tool to solve real problems, build creative projects, and reflect on how open source technology integrates into modern work, bring ideas to life, and create things with purpose.
Big shoutout to @tadamarketing, Joanna Micek, and @twloczkowski, who were the project leads for the student groups.
What It Really Means to Be Part of the WP Credits Program
The WordPress Credits Program is often misunderstood as purely technical or contributor-focused. In reality, it is a bridge between business, education, and open source community values.
@organvlasti, a WordPress Credits 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., took to the stage to break down what participation in the program actually looks like from a business and mentorship perspective. She shared how companies can support educational initiatives in a meaningful way, and featured a student whose path was shaped by that collaboration.
This talk is a must-watch for anyone considering institutional or business involvement in WordPress education.
A highlight from our university partnerships
A reflection of how deeply we collaborate with local educational institutions came in the form of a talk by @dannykrk of Kraków University of Technology. In “The New Engineer: Psychology, Systems, and Open Source,” Daniel explored how the role of the engineer is evolving, and the place open source communities play in shaping that. It’s a thought-provoking contribution from a partner who has become a real part of this community.
A recognition from Kraków University of Technology
One of the most meaningful moments of WCEU 2026 happened on the main stage at the beginning of Fireside Chat & Q&A. Kraków University of Technology presented a formal institutional recognition to @matt, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, in acknowledgment of his contributions to open source, education, and the open web. The award was presented by Natalia Ryłko on behalf of the university, and accepted by @4thhubbard in Matt’s name.
The letter from Rector Professor Andrzej Szarata expressed the university’s alignment with the values WordPress has long stood for: that knowledge should be shared, that technology should serve society, and that a university’s responsibility extends beyond its own walls. It also acknowledged the collaboration already underway between Kraków University of Technology, the WordPress FoundationWordPress FoundationThe WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. Find more on wordpressfoundation.org., and the broader WordPress community, pointing to student projects presented at WCEU as a tangible result of that partnership.
It’s a moment that speaks to something larger. When a major technical university formally recognizes the impact of an open source project and its educational initiatives, it signals that this work is being taken seriously at an institutional level. That kind of validation opens doors, and we look forward to building on it.
The event started strong on July 4th, 2026 at the WCEU Contributor Day, where the Education Table brought together one of the most engaged and diverse groups of the day.
It opened with introductions and a simple but powerful framing: What’s your background? What’s your campus or education experience? From there, the group moved into open brainstorming and discussion, and contributions came from two perspectives: students and mentors on one side, and institution representatives on the other.
What Students and Mentors Brought Up
The student and mentor group generated rich feedback and ideas, including:
Creating a new fellowship model for mentors, enabling them to prototype and design solutions for their own institutions (new programs, communication campaigns, internal platforms)
Adding a Human-Centered Design (HCD) module to the course to foster creative and solutions-oriented thinking
Building a contribution wizard tool directly into the course to help students navigate where they can get involved
Creating a contribution or project dashboard so students can clearly see open tasks and needs
Addressing the confusion between 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/ and 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/ in the course curriculum, which currently leads to disorientation
Dividing the course into technical and non-technical tracks to better serve different audiences
Improving language clarity throughout course materials and documentation
Institution reps came with strategic and structural thinking:
Developing an elevator pitch presentation specifically designed to help universities understand and join the program
Defining clear next steps for students after graduation, including the concept of a WPCredits Alumni Club
Framing contributions as a genuine career path, not just a classroom exercise
Making the course available in multiple languages
Encouraging participating institutions to collaborate with each other, rather than working in silos
Creating a mini-grant program, co-funded with institutions, to sponsor student projects
Introducing modern, relevant tools to the curriculum (for example, exploring an education partnership with Figma)
Developing audience-specific courses and certifications: WordPress for Business Owners, for Designers, for Project Managers, and so on
A Broader Request
One idea that surfaced from multiple directions: move Education to the WordPress.org main menu. It’s a small change with a big symbolic and practical impact, signaling that education is a first-class part of the WordPress ecosystem.
Also running on Contributor Day was Akademia WordPressa, a beginner-focused workshop initiative organized by the local Polish WordPress community. For the first time in WCEU history, the event included dedicated hands-on workshops for people who had never used WordPress before.
The concept originated at WordCamp Kraków 2024 and made its WCEU debut this year, with a four-hour curriculum running entirely in Polish and aimed at the local community. Participants built their first website from scratch using WordPress Playground, learned to work with the 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, explored how AI tools can assist in content creation and site planning, and then found and fixed intentional 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) and SEO errors in their own sites as a practical learning exercise. No coding required, no prior experience needed.
The session accommodated 40 participants, and all materials including the agenda, site project, exercise list, and facilitator notes are being published after the event so future organizers can freely adapt, translate, and reuse them.
This is exactly the spirit the Education initiatives are trying to scale. A community-led, low-barrier entry point into WordPress and open source, built by people who care about bringing new voices into the ecosystem. A dedicated post about the Akademia is coming soon, with a deeper look at the format, how it ran, and how other communities can pick it up and run it at their own events.
The hope is that Akademia WordPressa grows into a fixture at flagship WordPress events worldwide.
Sponsoring Students Is Investing in the Future of WordPress
Five students from the WordPress Credits Program attended WCEU 2026 in Kraków, representing Latvia, Italy, and Spain. Their participation was made possible by company sponsorships specifically dedicated to bringing WordPress Credits students to the event.
During the conference, those students had the chance to meet in person with the companies that sponsored their trips. That kind of connection matters. Students see firsthand what it looks like when a business genuinely invests in open source education. Companies meet the people their support made it possible for to be there.
What’s just as important: these students weren’t passive attendees. They volunteered at the event and attended the Contributor Day, contributing alongside the broader community. They came as sponsored participants and left as contributors.
This is worth naming as an open opportunity. Sponsoring a WordPress Credits student’s travel to a flagship event like WCEU is a concrete, meaningful way for a company to invest in WordPress education. It creates a direct connection between a business and a student at a formative moment, and it contributes to the contributor pipeline that the project depends on.
Looking Ahead
WCEU 2026 in Kraków was proof that WordPress education is growing up. The first-ever Education Track, a packed Contributor Day Table, and new institutional partnerships forming all point to a community that is taking education seriously.
The next step is to follow up with the mentors, institutional representatives, and supporters who contributed ideas during the Contributor Day Education Table. The session generated a rich list of proposals, from fellowship models and contribution dashboards to multilingual course materials and alumni pathways. Those conversations don’t stop when the event ends. I’ll be working through the ideas raised, engaging the people who raised them, and turning the most actionable ones into concrete next steps for the program.
The work continues. If you are a WordCamp organizer, university, educator, mentor, or student interested in getting involved with WordPress Educational Initiatives, WordPress Credits or Campus Connect, reach out. There is a place for you here.
When people ask me what I’ve been working on lately, the answer usually involves students, professors, 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. contributions. Something has been quietly building in Poland on the WordPress education front, and I think it’s time to share what’s been happening.
I’ve been coordinating WordPress Educational Initiatives in the Central and Eastern Europe region for a while now, and Poland has become one of the most exciting places to watch. Here’s a look at what we’ve built so far.
Universities Joining the WP Credits Program
The WordPress Credits Program connects students with real open source contributions, and Polish universities have been embracing this in a genuine way. Students aren’t just learning WordPress as a tool; they’re becoming contributors to a project that powers a significant portion of the web. For many of them, it’s the first time they realize that open source is something they can actively participate in, not just consume.
Seeing students submit their first contributions, earn their credit badges, and start to understand how a global open source community actually works has been one of the most rewarding parts of this work. What makes the Polish context interesting is the strong technical culture in Polish higher education, students come in with solid foundations, and the Credits Program gives them a meaningful way to apply that to something real and lasting.
Campus Connect Events
Alongside the Credits Program, we’ve been running WordPress Campus Connect events in Poland. These are hands-on sessions that bring WordPress into the classroom in a direct, practical way, connecting students with the broader community and giving them a taste of what contributor culture looks and feels like.
The events have been a great bridge between academic learning and the open source world. For a lot of students, meeting people from the WordPress community, hearing how others got involved, and realizing they’re already contributing to something global is the moment things click.
High Schools Stepping In
One of the developments I’m most excited about is what’s been happening at the secondary school level. VIII LO, a high school in Krakow, has students actively working on WordPress-related projects. This mirrors a broader direction in the WP Credits Program to explore contributions beyond universities, and it’s been incredible to see younger students take it seriously.
These students aren’t just building websites. They’re engaging with real problems, thinking about users, and learning what it means to create something that others will actually use. And some of them will be presenting their work 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 Krakow, which makes this particularly full-circle: they’re in the host city, they’re local students, and they’ll be sharing their WordPress journey with an international audience.
What’s Coming at WCEUWCEUWordCamp Europe. The European flagship WordCamp event. 2026
Speaking of WCEU: as part of the Education programming at WordCamp Europe this year, students from Krakow University of Technology, Krakow University of Economics, and VIII LO will be showcasing the projects they’ve built during their involvement in WordPress educational initiatives. Having local students present at a flagship WordPress event is a big deal, and it’s a testament to how far this work has come.
Why This Matters
Rita Robles wrote beautifully about what the WP Credits Program means to her in Costa Rica: seeing students go from never having heard of open source to becoming active contributors, building real portfolios, and connecting to a global community. I feel the same way about what’s happening in Poland.
The thing that keeps me going in those initiatives is the moment when a student stops thinking of themselves as someone who uses technology and starts seeing themselves as someone who builds it. That shift happens across cultures, in Krakow just as much as in Cartago.
We’re still building. More institutions are in conversation about joining the Credits Program, more Campus Connect events are in the pipeline, and the student showcase at WCEU is going to open some doors. Poland is very much in motion.
If you’re an educator in Poland or elsewhere in CEE and you’re curious about bringing WordPress into your institution, reach out. There’s a place for you in this program.
Maciej “Matt” Pilarski is a Community WranglerWranglerSomeone, usually a person part of event organizing team, who looks after certain things like budget or sponsors. at Automattic, coordinating WordPress Educational Initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia, part of the WCEU 2026 Local Team in Krakow.
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.
When we started WPCredits at Universidad Fidélitas, I knew it was an important project, but I didn’t fully grasp everything it would come to mean. Today, looking back, I realize that in a short time we’ve built something worth talking about. And since this is a journey that’s still very much open, I want to share it exactly as I’m living it.
From 158 to 185 students
We launched our first cohort with 158 students. That number already felt big to me, especially thinking about the logistics of supporting that many people well, making sure no one falls through the cracks. Today we’re 185 active students, spread across 6 schedules.
That split across schedules isn’t a minor detail. When you work with large groups, the temptation is to put everyone in the same space and run through the content all at once. We chose the opposite: dividing into six schedules precisely so we could offer close support, answer real questions, and make sure every student feels there’s someone paying attention to their progress. Contributing to WordPress for the first time can be intimidating, and that support is the difference between someone who stays and someone who drops out.
Five professors who joined as 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.
If I had to pick the thing I’m proudest of in this cohort, it isn’t the student numbers: it’s that we brought in 5 professors as mentors.
To me, this is key. It’s one thing to have motivated students learning to contribute, and quite another to have faculty fully involved in mentoring, guiding them step by step. These professors understand both sides of the coin: the dynamics of the classroom, with its timelines and academic demands, and the dynamics of the WordPress community, which runs on its own logic of contribution, collaboration, 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.. Having someone who can translate between those two worlds makes the student experience far more solid.
Faculty Mentors for the WP Credits Program at Universidad Fidélitas
Why this program is so meaningful to me
Beyond the numbers, what truly moves me about WPCredits is seeing who we’re reaching. We are bringing new generations to WordPress.
I’m talking about students who, in many cases, had never heard of open source, who didn’t know that behind WordPress there’s a global community of people contributing their time and work openly. When they discover that they too can contribute in a real way—that their work gets recorded, that it becomes part of a project powering a huge portion of the web—something shifts in how they see themselves. They stop being mere users of technology and become people who build it. And along the way, they put together an authentic professional portfolio, with verifiable contributions that carry real weight in the job market.
Planting that seed in young people, opening that door for them, is what makes this program so much more than an institutional task for me.
The new step: WPCredits reaches high schools
And because the idea has always been to keep moving forward, we’ve taken a step that has me especially excited: together with @peiraisotta, we’ve launched a WPCredits pilot in high schools.
This pilot is part of the broader WPCredits initiative—an effort to explore how the program can reach beyond universities and open its doors to secondary education. Working alongside Isotta to bring this vision to life has been a real privilege, and it speaks to the program’s commitment to growing the community from the ground up.
The first school to join is the Liceo HHC Experimental Bilingüe José Figueres Ferrer in Cartago, Costa Rica. There, 13 tenth-grade students will begin this process as part of their Student Community Service requirement. I find this point especially valuable: instead of fulfilling their community service with a one-off, isolated activity, these young people will do it by contributing to an international project, with real and verifiable impact. Their community service becomes a formative, technical experience that connects them to a global community.
It’s the first time WPCredits reaches secondary education, and to me, it represents opening an entirely new door. These students are younger; they’re at a different stage, and seeing how they respond to this challenge is going to teach us a great deal.
Because that’s the other important point: this pilot isn’t a standalone event. It’s designed as a foundation, a model that can be replicated and improved so that, starting next year, more high schools can join the initiative. We’re beginning with one, with 13 students, but the program’s sights are set on something much bigger.
Yesterday, during the first session with the group of students at the José Figueres Ferrer Experimental Bilingual High School
Moving forward
When I put all of this together—the growth of the cohort, the professors who joined as mentors, the new students arriving at WordPress, and now high schools entering the picture—it’s clear to me that we’re on the right path.
WPCredits, for me, turned out to be much more than a program: it’s a way of building community, of making room for new generations, and of showing that from Costa Rica we can contribute to a global project.
This is only the beginning. And we keep moving forward.
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.
