St. Cloud Times — A video game has taught St. Cloud students about teamwork, respect, inspiration and support.

The boys and girls at South Junior High School didn’t learn from playing, though.

They were the creators.

“I love this so much, everything about it,” said eighth-grader Meredith Overman as she tested “Save My Dragon” on an iPad for the first time.

“That’s awesome!” she said after noticing a character made of fingers and an eyeball.

Overman had drawn the little monster. And now it was alive, digitally, and crawling across the tablet.

A conversation between a special education staff member at South and a St. Cloud State University professor helped make the excitement a reality.

Bruce Klemz teaches marketing classes and advises the Video Game Design Club at the university. A few years ago, former students started a company: Dlalo Games. (Like the operating system Ubuntu, Dlalo takes its name from the Xhosa language of South Africa. It roughly translates to “game play.”)

Students’ video game boosts pride and art budget