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Teacher's Pets was founded in 2025 by 5 students at The University of Texas at Austin: Sophie Baca, Hayden D'Gama, Luis Mendez, Caleb Mulugeta, and Cole Roberts. After hearing family members, who are public school teachers, complain of being stretched too thin planning lessons, setting up classroom activities, and cleaning overtime after school, they were inspired to create Teacher's Pets: a nonprofit dedicated to supporting educators on a daily, tangible basis. Additionally, after learning about the problem of debt in Austin ISD, we realized just how important it is to help teachers focus more on teaching and less on spending limited time and money gathering materials.
Teacher's Pets' Mission is as follows:
Teacher’s Pets aims to assist elementary school teachers with menial, clerical, and miscellaneous tasks so that they can devote more time to educational lesson planning, so students have access to higher-quality primary education.
Who Are We?
Sophia Baca is an International Relations major and part of the Liberal Arts Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin. Sophia is from Austin, Texas and is the daughter of a public school educator.
Hayden D'Gama is a government major from Katy, TX. Both of his grandmothers were educators. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, hunting, and playing GeoGuessr.
Luis Mendez is a philosophy and English major and part of the Liberal Arts Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin. Luis is from Houston, Texas. In his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling, and playing video games.
Caleb Mulugeta is a government and economics major and part of the Liberal Arts Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin. Caleb is from Fort Worth, Texas, and is the grandson of a former educator in Ethiopia. In his free time, Caleb enjoys reading books, running, and hanging out with his friends in Austin.
Cole Roberts grew up in Frisco, TX where he often spent his time after school helping his mother—a public school teacher—complete the many day-to-day tasks required for teachers. Now, Cole attends the University of Texas at Austin and is a part of the UT Liberal Arts Honors program. Hoping to one day be an educator, improving the lives of teachers is a very important mission to him.
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