Our Story

We are a team of positive thinkers and changemakers who believe that we all need to chip in to create a better future for ourselves and our children.

The pandemic upended life for many. There has been great loss of life, public health officials had to fight both Covid-19 as well as vaccine hesitancy, thousands of small businesses shut down, and countless children fell behind in their academic growth. There was a pervasive sense of hopelessness.

Covid-19 only added to the strain that our teachers already felt. On one hand, the indispensable role of our educators was never clearer. On the other hand, inflation made it ever more challenging for them to make ends meet. Teacher empowerment also became a huge concern. Parents and school boards increasingly constrained their ability to teach. Even libraries became a bone of contention! While it was extremely disheartening to see the exodus of teachers from many schools, the disproportionate impact on children from low-income families and poorly resourced schools was even more gut wrenching.

Our journey began during the Covid-19 pandemic. After hearing tragic first-person stories about what teachers and kids were going through at a couple of local middle schools, Akhila and Srinivas Jallepalli decided to create a small mentoring program for one of the schools. Akhila reached out to her friends at LASA High School and Akhila and Srinivas reached out to the staff, administration, and parents at Webb Middle School. After working through the logistics, the program eventually took off and we logged dozens of hours of mentoring within a few months.

In our second year, Higher Orbit is ready to add more mentors and mentee schools. Higher Orbit is also expanding its offering with several new programs. All our initiatives have been carefully tailored to maximize student learning and growth.