Program Overview
Community Connections is ARIC’s newest innovation-focused, project-based learning program. Students work directly with real community clients to design and build solutions that address meaningful local needs across Carroll County (and perhaps beyond!).
Blending engineering, creativity, collaboration, and entrepreneurial thinking, this class empowers students to move beyond theoretical learning and create work that has real-world impact. Participants develop the mindset and skills of young community innovators while seeing their ideas come to life.
Each multi-week session centers on a challenge presented by a nonprofit, business, or community organization. Students function as a design and innovation team as they learn to:
Understand a client’s goals and constraints
Generate and evaluate ideas
Build and test prototypes
Refine solutions through feedback
Deliver a final product for real use
As the program grows, our plan is to have students identify community problems on their own, propose solutions, and lead innovation projects they design themselves to build independence, confidence, and entrepreneurial thinking.
First Project: Peep-Themed Plastic Coin Counter (january - march 2026)
The inaugural Community Connections project is in collaboration with the Carroll County Arts Council.
Each April, the Carroll County Arts Council hosts the Westminster PEEPshow, where thousands of visitors vote for their favorite Peeps-themed art installations using plastic coins. Currently, volunteers count these coins by hand, a process that is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
The challenge posed to ARIC students:
Can you design a faster and more efficient way to count votes?
Students will collaborate to design and build a Peep-themed coin counter, integrating engineering, programming, creative design, and innovative problem-solving. The project follows a full real-world development process, including:
Meeting with the client to understand needs and goals
Researching and brainstorming solutions
Prototyping, testing, and refining designs
Iterating based on client feedback
Delivering a functional, user-friendly solution for use at the PEEPshow
By completing this project, students will see their work implemented in the community and used in a live public event—creating a strong sense of purpose, ownership, and accomplishment.