‘Star Wars: Building a Galaxy with Code Program’: Rey & Princess Leia Teach K-12 Children How to Code?

Code.org is encouraging kids under the K-12 program to study coding. "Building a Galaxy With Code" is the organization's second year teaming with Disney to promote "Hour of Code" for computer science education. This year, the event includes characters from a galaxy far, far away.

In line with the release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" next month, Code.org is giving children"Star Wars: Building a Galaxy With Code" for children in the K-12 program, allowing them to work with Rey and Princess Leia, as well as guide BB-8 with a simple mission. The participants will also get to build a game featuring C-3PO and R2-D2.

Last year, the "Hour of Code" featured characters Anna and Elsa from Disney's "Frozen", and was said to have been completed 13 million times, including US President Barack Obama, who joined the org and made his own code in December. 

Working hand in hand with Disney and LucasFilm in this endeavor, The Hollywood Reporter noted that the video launching this year's event also features an introduction from LucasFilm president, Kathleen Kennedy.

The organization's own founder, Hadi Partovi said in a statement, "Millions of us have been transported to a galaxy far, far away thanks to the creativity of the team behind Star Wars. Every one of us, especially young boys and girls, should also have the chance to learn how to power our own creativity with computer science."

According to the organization's website, the "Star Wars" version creates the entire galaxy using drag-and-drop blocks and Java Script, and is made for children ages 11 and above.

Since its inception last year, over 100 million students participated in the event across 180 countries, and about the same is expected to be drawn from the "Star Wars" version.

However, with this cool educational game for children, what's up with the seventh installment of the Sci-fi epic? Code.org had it right to include Rey as one of the characters for Code Hour, as the film will feature more of the new characters instead of the old ones.

Director JJ Abrams said in an interview with Wired Magazine, "These new characters, which 'Force' is very much about, find themselves in new situations. So even if you don't know anything about 'Star Wars,' you're right there with them."

Little is known about the plot, but as the New York Daily News noted, the new characters Abrams mentioned include Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

"Star Wars: Building a Galaxy With Code" is already available online, but "Episode VII: The Force Awakens" will premiere in theater on December 18, 2015.