#driod

Our Hero and his lil Sidekick!

Can you name your favorite Droid? I can. BB-8. I know he’s one of the newest droids to hit the scene, don’t judge me. BB-8 will forever be indebted to all droids before him (R2-D2, especially), but he’s just so dang on cute! I love how he rolls around peeping out the scene and kicking up dust. The way he spins his head with the attitude of “a Droid who’s been here before” is downright hilarious. Now, think of your favorite droid and imagine being the creator of said droid. Imagine people all over the globe knowing its name. How would you feel if you created someone’s next best favoritest droid ever? Indescribable, but not unimaginable!

On November 15th, the first-ever Droidathon was held at the Lucasfilm campus, where companies like Facebook, Fitbit, Twitter, Instagram, Google, Lucasfilm, and more showed off their very own Droid creations with kids from Black Girls CODE, The Boys & Girls Club, and more! This was the kickoff event for the littleBits Competition, which will run until January 10, 2018. Fans and families will be able to submit their own Droid design creations, with qualifying submissions judged by Star Wars: The Last Jedi stars Daisy Ridley (Rey in the current Star Wars trilogy) and Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi) alongside Ayah Bdeir (founder and CEO of littleBits) and Kathleen Kennedy (president of Lucasfilm). This competition is all about inspiring kids and fans to explore technology, create things, and see themselves as inventors.

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) is an area that most school systems are heavily focused on. Why wouldn’t they be? You very well may be reading this on a Smartphone as you stand in the long self-checkout line of your favorite grocery store. Maybe you’re chilling with your feet kicked up while your robot vacuum does all the dirty work for you. We need kids in STEAM creating all of these amazing things that make our dreams of living like The Jetsons come true.