When Coppell High School sophomores Saanvi Chiliveru and Bhuvana Bachu learned that Texas has six times the national average of animal abuse cases, the highest state in the country, they refused to be bystanders as the numbers continued to grow. 

“Bhuvana and I, we both have a love for animals,” Chiliveru said. “We don’t have any pets, but we’ve always wanted them. When we found out that information, that sparked something in us and made us do something about it.”

Signing up for the Project Management Business Solutions (PMBS) event in DECA, Chiliveru and Bachu viewed the competition as a gateway to address the under-discussed issue of animal abuse.

As passionate business students, Chiliveru and Bachu consistently push themselves to expand their work in social entrepreneurship, an element that came into effect in their project. Business Information Management (BIM) teacher Andrea Pirtle notes their exceptional project management skills and presence in class. 

“They’re amazing students,” Pirtle said. “BIM works more on projects, so I was able to see [Bachu] use leadership skills. Both of them are very proactive, and work really well with other kids.”

Utilizing skills from their business classes, Chiliveru and Bachu crafted informative posters, personally discussed animal abuse with students and organized a stand to sell raffle tickets during lunches to raise money for their cause.

“At school, there’s a lot of people that probably don’t know about [animal abuse],” Bachu said. “We first wanted to spread the information more specifically at CHS, so we could create a more lasting impact in our local community.”

Outside CHS, the two organized a stand at Cypress Waters to circulate information among Irving residents. Partnering with C2Education and Little Greek, Chiliveru and Bachu arranged a series of fundraising events in late November for animal shelters.

“We knew that Cypress Waters was easily accessible and a lot of people went there,” Bachu said. “For us, that was a good place to target and set up a stand so that we can reach more people about this issue and raise more awareness.”

Their extensive networking and communication skills allowed Chiliveru and Bachu to meddle in a partnership with Dog n Kitty City, a no-kill animal shelter operated by the Humane Society of Dallas.

“They’re not timid in asking organizations,” Pirtle said. “I’m very proud of them, how they came up with this idea and researched it. I’m impressed by how they reached out, and looked at other places to flesh out their project.”

For Chiliveru and Bachu, extending from a local area to Dallas was a noteworthy stepping stone in their advocacy. Working with Dog n Kitty City, the two garnered more knowledge about animals and their responses to their environments. They soon aimed to tackle another issue that they had discovered. 

“After these animals come into the shelter, they often aren’t given frequent human interaction before coming in,” Chiliveru said. “Dog n Kitty City was understaffed, so they couldn’t afford to have frequent volunteers. We wanted to increase their volunteering.”

In an initial survey of 96 Irving and Coppell residents, Chiliveru and Bachu noted that about 9% of people volunteered for Dog n Kitty City. Three months after the beginning of their collaboration, they discovered a significant increase, with approximately 30% out of 90 residents reporting that they had volunteered for Dog n Kitty City.

“A few people messaged me saying ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t even know that Dog n Kitty City existed. It’s so cool that you’re spreading information about this,’” Chiliveru said. “It’s nice to see that people are interested, but just didn’t know.”

On Wednesday, Chiliveru and Bachu showcased their project to a panel of judges at DECA and successfully advanced to the state level. In the future, Chiliveru and Bachu plan to reach out to other companies like Coppell Humane Society and branch out into additional regions in Texas.

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