Luciana Vega will be American Girl’s 2018 Girl of the Year and will officially launch on January 1st. Luciana is an aspiring astronaut and dreams of being the first person to go to Mars. She has the brain, but still has some learning to do before she can make her dream come true. Luciana Vega will feature many STEM-inspired accessories and products including a Space Suit and Flight Suit among others.
“We’re proud to introduce fans to American Girl’s 2018 Girl of the Year, Luciana Vega—a champion of STEM and a natural-born leader who puts her whole heart into making her dreams a reality,” says Katy Dickson, president of American Girl. “Luciana is a role model for today’s girls—empowering them to defy stereotypes, and embrace risks that will teach them about failure and success as they chart their own course in life—whatever the goal. For us, it’s all about building girls of strong character, and it’s why we’re continuing to encourage girls to lead change and embrace #charactercounts.”
As with all new American Girl Dolls you will find a chapter book series written by Erin Teagan and published by Scholastic. There are currently two books available now that tell the story of Luciana winning a scholarship to Space Camp and her many adventures. To keep the story accurate, Dr. Ellen Stofan, former NASA Chief Scientist, Dr. Deborah Barnhart, CEO and Executive Director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Dr. Megan McArthur Behnken, NASA Astronaut, and Maureen O’Brien, Manager of Strategic Alliances at NASA were all brought on to an Advisory Board.
To engage girls and boys with Luciana’s message, American Girl—in partnerships with Scholastic, NASA, and Space Camp—has funded Blast Off to Discovery, an educational program to help third though fifth-grade students explore the wonder of space through Luciana-inspired content, including STEM-based lesson plans and classroom activities, videos, a game, and more.