A Global Commencement for the 2021 Cohort
After a year that pushed students to adapt, rebuild, and rethink how learning happens, GitHub is marking the milestone with a virtual graduation ceremony. The GitHub Education team will host the event on June 5 at 9:00am PT, welcoming graduates into a community that spans countries, disciplines, and projects. The ceremony highlights work that emerged from a difficult year — showing not just technical skill, but the persistence behind it.
The event will be hosted by Juan Pablo Flores and Elise Hollowed from GitHub Education. Campus Experts from various regions will join to share notable projects, favorite moments, and advice for what comes next. Shanku Niyogi, GitHub’s Senior Vice President of Product, will deliver the commencement address.
How Graduates Can Participate
Students graduating in 2021 can take part by submitting a pull request to the graduation repository before May 27. The first 5,000 merged pull requests will receive a custom holographic card featuring their GitHub stats, shipped by mail. In addition to the physical memento, merging a Markdown file into the repository secures a place in the 2021 yearbook — a permanent record of the class.
The event is one GitHub Education calls a favorite, and for good reason: it brings together the next generation of builders from around the world. The day is meant to recognize the culmination of coursework, collaboration, and problem-solving that defines the graduating class.
Marking the Calendar
The ceremony is open to more than the graduating class. Volunteers, mentors, students, and teachers are all welcome to attend. For those graduating, the call to action is clear: submit a pull request, secure a spot in the yearbook, and walk the virtual stage with peers.
For the Class of 2021, the graduation address and supporting materials will serve as a record of what was accomplished under unusual circumstances — an acknowledgement that the work of the last year did not go unnoticed.
