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The Company
Pentewa Interactive creates and publishes a series of educational software programs for K – 8th grade based on international arts. The name Pentewa is not only our family surname, but also means "artist" or "writer" in the Hopi language. Co-founder, John Hirasawa is the son, grandson and nephew of Hopi artists and carvers. Our first title was inspired by co-founder Susan Olivier-Hirasawa’s work as a volunteer artist in Seattle’s public schools.
Pentewa's titles bring the world to the classroom through multicultural, educational software. Our line of software presents folkart traditions as a means to understanding diverse customs and cultures. Students visit a Native American potlatch, explore Anasazi petroglyph sites, attend a Chinese puppet play, fly a Japanese kite, visit Mexico’s Day of the Dead, create African textiles. Each title encourages creativity with computer based art and writing activities as well as instructions and templates for classroom craft projects. Teachers will find these titles valuable tools in developing curriculum for social studies and whole language units—bibliographies and related activities are provided.

Pentewa was founded in 1997 and incorporated in 1998 in the state of Washington. Pentewa Interactive published its first two software titles in the fall of 1997, "At the Potlatch" and "Chinese Shadow Puppet Theater", followed by the release of a third title, "Mexico's Day of the Dead" in the summer of 1998. In 2001 Pentewa published three CD-Rom titles, adding "Exploring Rock Art" to substantial upgrades of our Chinese and Mexican titles, which had originally been published as floppy disk based software.

Where computers are a powerful tool for enhancing our children‘s creativity.

Where children of all backgrounds and colors see themselves reflected in the digital world.

Where technology is a joyful bridge between cultures.