GUILDERLAND — Most parents don’t think of education and reading development being related to their children’s computer games.

However, Samson the dog hopes to change that.

Darrin and Jason Jahnel have launched a computer software program aimed at teaching sight words to young readers with the help of their comical mascot, Samson the dog. The program is designed to provide all of the necessary tools of sight word instruction, while capturing children’s interest and encouraging them along their way.

Sight words are commonly used words, such as the, for, done, and because, which are instantly recognized by readers without having to decipher their meaning.

Darrin Jahnel, a Guilderland entrepreneur, is the president of Knowledge Wand, LLC, which produces other educational computer software aimed a students between first and eighth grade.

Sightwords with Samson also includes worksheets, flashcards, and lesson plans, in addition to educational games. One of its features allow teachers and parents to monitor each student’s progress.
"When I was working down in New York, I always had a desire to start my own business," said Jahnel, who studied at New York University. "My brother and I came up with ideas while we were working on our graduate degree at NYU."

Knowledge Wand recently received a $100,000 contract for software programs with the New York City school districts.
"We kind of wanted to get into younger education because of the lack we saw in sight word education," Jahnel told The Enterprise.

Jahnel’s company also created Uptown Education and Get Your Learn On, educational software used by school districts around the country. Sight Words with Samson was released in August, and in only 45 days, 4,600 games were played according to Jahnel’s on-line calculations.
"The new product has been absolutely incredible. We’ve been going crazy," said Jahnel. "We’re doing on-line pay-per-clicks in 15 different states and in Canada. We gave free programs to the Schalmont and Coxsakie-Athens school districts. They’ve been good to us in the past, so we use them to pilot the software."

A free demo of the program is available at www.sightwords-withsamson.com.

Knowledge Wand was first incorporated in 2003, but Jahnel said it wasn’t until March of 2005 that he quit his job as a senior software engineer to pursue running the company full-time.
"That’s when I realized this was for real," said Jahnel.

Jahnel graduated from Schalmont High School in Schenectady in 1994, received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from University at Albany in 1998, and then his master’s degree in information systems from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2003.
"We’re kind of a virtual organization. I live here in Guilderland, my brother lives in Manhattan, we have a sales representative in White Plains and Long Island, and various part-time workers all over," Jahnel said. "We still get together quite a bit, but we do everything through tele-conferencing, on-line, and over the phone.