By Marissa Villa

DaVinci Minds Inc. might be all about fun and games, but the end result is serious business for San Antonio and its green economy.

DaVinci administers WhyPower, an interactive computer program for 8th graders that integrates gaming and simulation as a way to learn the math and science around green energy jobs.

It uses a virtual world called WhyVille that has its own economy, government, newspaper and power grid that uses traditional and renewable energy resources.

When DaVinci Minds launched the program in 2010, its goal was to educate middle school students on green energy in the hopes that they would be better prepared to compete for green jobs in the future.

WhyPower began in one school, Lopez Middle School in Northeast ISD.

One year later, the program has expanded into Waco and the Rio Grande Valley with plans to expand even further throughout the state. DaVinci Minds also offer products and services for middle schools, high schools, community colleges and universities.

In WhyVille — created by California-based Numedeon Inc. — students learn how best to manage resources, such as power, in a subdivision. The more the students know about good energy behaviors and habits, the more successful their green subdivision becomes.

Because of a partnership with Alamo Colleges, DaVinci Minds also provides students a career pathway by showing them the classes they need to take before graduation in order to join the green energy programs at the colleges.

“We’re trying to raise up talent that will be globally competitive in high-wage, high-tech jobs,” says Cliff Zintgraff, CEO of DaVinci Minds and a San Antonio native with a background in computer science. Zintgraff has worked with start-up companies since 2001 and founded DaVinci Minds in 2007.

WhyPower is funded by the Texas Workforce Commission, and a variety of additional grants, including EduCause and a national grant called Next Generation Learning Challenges. In addition to Alamo Colleges, DaVinci Minds also has partnered with the Austin-based nonprofit, Power Across Texas and Numedeon, whose CEO works in San Antonio as a professor.

Zintgraff says the program targets students who are in a prime learning stage of their educational careers. It’s part of the company’s mission to create interesting and engaging programs for students who otherwise may not have opportunities to have such curriculum, he added.

“As a broad trend, it is more and more difficult for those students to participate in the kinds of educational programs in high school that lead to high-tech, high- wage jobs,” Zintgraff said. “So that’s the mission of our company and why WhyPower is a crucial element in our strategy for students.”

Zintgraff says the recognition the company has gotten for DaVinci Minds Inc.’s dedication to students likely only will help them develop even more engaging programs like WhyPower.

“It’s gratifying to know that what we’re building is being judged as being something useful and interesting,” he says.

MARISSA VILLA is a San Antonio freelance writer.

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