WordCamp US is almost here, and the Education working group will be there with a dedicated table at Contributor Day on August 16. If you are curious about how WordPress is entering classrooms, campuses, and student communities around the world, come find us, we would love to talk.
What you will find at our table
@peiraisotta and @gomp will be there throughout the event to share an overview of the current community Education programs and answer any questions:
- WordPress Credits: partnering with schools and universities so that students earn academic credits (or the equivalent academic recognition) by contributing to WordPress.
- Campus Connect: WordPress events hosted on campuses, bringing the community directly to students and faculty.
- Student Club: student-led groups that keep the momentum going between events, where students learn, build, and contribute together.
- Faculty Training: preparing professors and instructors to teach WordPress and integrate open source contributions into their courses.
- AI Literacy through WordPress: a brand new course on learn.wordpress.org to gain practical foundation in AI literacy built around real workforce goals.
Stop by to learn how each program works, what we have learned so far, and where they are heading next.
How you can help
A few things are top of mind for us at this WordCamp:
We are looking for mentors based in the US. We are about to onboard more students and more colleges, and the current group of mentors cannot stretch to cover the growth on its own. If you have experience contributing to WordPress and want to help a student find their way into the project, or if you are not an experienced contributor but want to learn how to support students, come talk to us at the table. Mentoring is one of the most direct ways to shape the next generation of contributors, and we will walk you through what the commitment looks like.
We want to connect our students to active local meetups. A student’s first WordCamp or meetup is often the moment the community becomes real for them. If you organize or attend a meetup in the US, we would love to map where our students are and introduce them to the groups closest to them, so that their contribution journey continues locally after the program ends.
We want to reach more institutions. If you have a connection with a university, a college, or a vocational school, whether you studied there, teach there, or simply know someone on the faculty, you can help us open a door. A warm introduction is often all it takes to start a conversation about bringing WordPress into a classroom, and we can take it from there. Come tell us about your institution and we will figure out together which program could be the best fit.
We welcome companies who want to sponsor the programs. Growing to more students and more colleges takes resources, and sponsorship is a concrete way for companies to invest in the future of the WordPress talent pool. If your company hires WordPress talent, cares about open source education, or wants visibility with the next generation of contributors, stop by the table and we will walk you through the sponsorship options and what your support would make possible.
Come say hi
Whether you are a longtime contributor, a meetup organizer, a professor, or someone who simply cares about bringing new people into WordPress, the Education table is for you. Stop by, ask questions, share ideas, or just say hi, we will be there with the table at Contributor Day on August 16, and between tracks and hallways until the last day of the event on August 19.
See you in Phoenix!
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