Every Leader Was Once the New Kid: From Being Welcomed to Welcoming Others

Every student who walks through our doors begins in the same place: unsure, curious, and hoping they belong. The goal isn't to stay the new kid. It's to become the one who helps welcome the next one. 

One of the core principles of The Creative Innovator Method™ is simple:

Responsibility is learned through responsibility.

You can't teach leadership by talking about it. You have to give young people meaningful opportunities to practice it.

That's exactly what happened with Emma and Rory.

Carrying their own supplies into practice

Emma Grew Up Watching

Long before Emma Zayas ever joined a Creative Innovators Project team, she was already learning.

As the younger sibling of an Odyssey of the Mind participant, she spent years sitting quietly on the sidelines because she was too young to compete. We didn't have a Primary team yet, so while the older students built, brainstormed, and rehearsed, Emma watched.

Her mom, Nancy, would often create simplified versions of our challenges so Emma could experiment on her own while she waited.

At first, it was simply a way to keep a curious little girl busy.

Looking back, it became something much bigger.

Emma working the recruiting booth first CIP event December 2024

Emma listened to coaching conversations. She watched teams solve problems. She observed how students encouraged one another, worked through disagreements, and celebrated breakthroughs. She asked thoughtful questions. She tried things herself.

Along the way, Emma learned one of the hardest lessons in teamwork:

"It's okay that your ideas will not always be chosen, and how to work together as a team and communicate with each other effectively."

Without realizing it, she was already becoming part of our culture.

When she was finally old enough to join our Primary team at Creative Innovators Project, none of us were surprised.

Emma had dreamed about that moment for years.

"Odyssey has been in my life for a pretty long time. I was about five years old when I first came to a practice... I would always ask my mom, 'When can I join?!'"

She stepped naturally into leadership.

Emma working with her Primary team

Not because someone told her to.

Because she had spent years learning what leadership looked like.

Like many children, Emma wasn't completely confident walking through the door for the first time.

"Being on my own team was exciting, but I was scared I wasn't going to make any friends. But both teams became my friends."

Today, when asked how she would greet a new student, Emma didn't hesitate.

"I'd walk up to them, introduce myself, show them around the clubhouse, and introduce them to coaches and teammates. I want them to feel happy and comfortable and make new friends."

Emma rehearsing Primary Problem Spring 2025

Looking back, Emma says it didn't take long before those fears disappeared.

"It felt like home almost right away—about the second practice that I went to."

Then Came Rory

One of the first students Emma welcomed was her friend, Rory.

Rory remembers exactly who made the difference.

"Emma made me feel welcome when I started CIP. She helped me and said I could do anything."

Rory joined Creative Innovators Project alongside her mom, Devon, who now serves as one of our Division I coaches.

Not long after joining, Rory found herself volunteering at one of our earliest fundraisers—a Valentine's Day photo event.

Devon warned us that Rory was shy.

Fortunately, Rory already knew Lauren, one of our Division III students and Student Board Members. (You can read Lauren's story of advocacy here.)

Lauren took Rory under her wing.

Lauren & Rory at CIP Valentine’s Day Fundraiser

Emma welcomed her in.

Rory still remembers that first impression.

"Emma made me feel welcome when I started CIP. She helped me and said I could do anything."

Rory & Emma at CIP Valentine’s Day Shoot Fundraiser

Together, they quietly showed her what belonging looked like.

Before long, Rory was greeting customers, helping sell cupcakes, and confidently sharing why Creative Innovators Project mattered.

Rory working at CIP Valentine’s Day Photo Shoot Fundraiser

What was supposed to be a short volunteer shift turned into something much more meaningful.

Over the months that followed, I watched Rory continue to grow.

Along the way, she discovered confidence she didn't know she had.

"A year ago I didn't know what improvising was. I learned that if I forgot my lines or something broke, I knew I could keep going."

She refined her fundraising pitch.

She greeted new families with a smile.

Today, when asked what she'd tell a new student, Rory smiled. She hopes every new student hears the same encouragement she once received.

"You got this. You are brave."

Rory is a friend to everyone at CIP and never runs out of hugs

She reached for the door before anyone else could.

She instinctively noticed the student standing alone and walked over to introduce herself.

Those aren't skills you memorize.

They're habits you develop through practice.

Representing CIP at Lake Pleasant Elem Trunk-or-Treat, working the event

Growing Into Responsibility

This is why we intentionally give students real responsibility.

Not after they're "ready."

So they can become ready.

Emma and Rory are entering fourth and fifth grade.

Rory's energetic leadership and encouraging spirit are something her teammates have come to count on.

Many organizations would tell children that age to wait until they're older before taking on leadership.

We believe something different.

Emma has learned to trust her own capabilities and lead with quiet confidence

When children are trusted with meaningful responsibility, supported by caring mentors, and surrounded by positive role models, they often rise far beyond our expectations.

Today, when asked how she would welcome a new student, Emma answered without hesitation.

"I'd walk up to them, introduce myself, show them around the clubhouse, then introduce them to coaches and teammates. I want them to feel happy and comfortable and make new friends."

Rory already knows the kind of encouragement she wants every new student to hear.

"I'd want everyone to know it will be hard sometimes, but you can solve problems no matter what. The coaches are always there to help."

That's why Emma and Rory will become our very first Creative Innovators Project Student Ambassadors.

Their job won't simply be to welcome new families.

They'll help new students feel like they belong.

Emma hopes every new student leaves with one feeling:

"That it's a fun place to be... that they'll never want to leave and they'll become part of a new family."

They'll model kindness.

They'll answer questions.

They'll help younger innovators find the confidence to participate.

And, knowing Creative Innovators Project...

...even our mascot has a role to play.

Emma & Theodore Jaxson CIP’s newest mascot

More Than a Title

At Creative Innovators Project, leadership isn't reserved for the oldest students.

It's something we intentionally cultivate at every age.

Rory is especially excited about one part of her new role.

"I'm most excited about getting to take care of Teddy and helping new kids."

Our Student Ambassador Program is just one example of how we help students practice communication, empathy, initiative, responsibility, and service—skills that matter far beyond competitions.

Because someday these students won't simply participate in their communities.

They'll help shape them.

And it all starts with one opportunity to welcome someone else.

What’s Rory looking to help new students with?

"I would want them to feel excited and look forward to coming back."

Emma once wondered if she would belong.

Rory once needed someone to tell her, "You can do anything."

This fall, another child will walk through our doors for the very first time.

They won't know it yet, but one of the first people they'll meet will be Emma or Rory.

Years ago, someone did the same for them.

That's how leadership grows at Creative Innovators Project.

Every leader was once the new kid.

Responsibility Is Learned Through Responsibility: The Best Lesson I Never Taught

Responsibility isn't something we tell children about. It's something they discover when we trust them with real work.

The Best Lesson I Never Taught 

As a parent, I hope to cultivate responsibility in my daughter. As much as I love her, taking care of her for the rest of her life because I never entrusted her with responsibility is not the future I envision for either of us.

What I've discovered, though, is something unexpected.

Children actually crave responsibility.

Growing up is the gradual transfer of responsibility from parent to child. When we trust them with something meaningful—and they discover they are capable—it changes them. Confidence isn't something we can give our children. It is something they build by proving to themselves that they can do hard things.

Brinley has always been a natural introvert. She's thoughtful, cautious, and perfectly happy to let me handle the "adult" things like budgeting, banking, saving, and making financial decisions. Honestly, I think most kids are.

When I started Creative Innovators Project, I could have gone to the bank by myself, opened the account, filed the paperwork, managed the finances, and simply let Brinley remain an Odyssey of the Mind participant.

Instead, I decided to do something that honestly felt a little crazy.

Every project became more than an activity. It became an opportunity for students to learn by creating, collaborating, and taking ownership together.

I wanted the club itself to become the classroom.

I had watched these students solve impossible problems, work through conflict, and create incredible things together. I knew what they were capable of. What I didn't know was whether a group of middle school students could actually help build a nonprofit from the ground up.

There wasn't a room full of experienced adults ready to do the work.

There was a room full of kids.

Kids who were willing to try.

Creative Innovators Project wasn't built for students. It was built alongside them, one idea, one responsibility, and one act of trust at a time.

So instead of doing it for them, I invited them to build it with me. I handed them titles, board positions, and real responsibilities, and together we started building.

We made mistakes.

Everything took longer than expected.

But every challenge became another lesson.

We spent countless hours sitting around tables redesigning marketing materials, brainstorming ideas, solving problems, and trying to define what Creative Innovators Project would become—all while continuing to compete at the highest level in Odyssey of the Mind.

It was hard work.

Sometimes it was emotionally exhausting.

But every challenge became another opportunity for these students to grow.

Years of small responsibilities prepared these students for bigger ones. Today, they don't just participate in Creative Innovators Project—they help build its future.

Last month, those years of growth were recognized in a way none of us will ever forget. Creative Innovators Project received the largest gift in our organization's history—a $10,000 grant from Valmark's Global Gift Fund.

The check itself was incredible.

But what it represented meant even more.

It was proof of what young people can accomplish when they are trusted with meaningful responsibility. It validated years of hard work, countless iterations, resilience, perseverance, and the courage to keep moving forward even when success wasn't guaranteed.

I never had to tell my daughter those lessons.

She experienced them.

She lived them.

The greatest reward of giving students responsibility isn't that they become more responsible. It's watching them become the leaders who inspire the next generation.

And that is infinitely more valuable than any title, trophy, or speech I could ever give.

Looking back to September 2024, I am so grateful we took that first risk. We invested our first $500 in filing fees, Odyssey of the Mind registration, and simply started building. We didn't have all the answers. We learned together, made improvements together, and grew together.

As Creative Innovators Project enters its next chapter with Leadership Pathways and Passion Projects, our mission hasn't changed. We still believe young people learn best by doing real work, solving real problems, and carrying real responsibility.

But this story isn't really mine to tell anymore.

It's Brinley's.

While I watched this journey as a parent and mentor, she lived it as a student. She experienced the uncertainty, the fundraisers, the long weekends, the board meetings, the responsibility, and ultimately the incredible reward of seeing years of hard work lead to opportunities we never imagined.

This is her part of the story.

What Responsibility Taught Me

By: Brinley Weltsch

Growing up participating in Odyssey of the Mind and Creative Innovators Project, I have learned countless real-world lessons and skills that have shaped who I am today. The most important lessons I have gained are how to be independent, resourceful, and determined. These programs have taught me that success does not simply come from having good ideas—it comes from hard work, perseverance, and a willingness to step up when challenges arise. Every experience has pushed me to become a more confident leader and problem solver, skills that I know will benefit me for years to come.

By the time Brinley became one of the faces of Creative Innovators Project, the real work had already happened—years of learning, serving, and growing into someone others could depend on.

Being part of a student-led program means taking on responsibilities that many students never experience. Since we receive little to no funding, we have always had to raise the money ourselves to attend competitions. Over the years, we have organized countless fundraisers, including GoFundMe campaigns, lemonade stands, car washes, sponsorship requests, and many other events. Through these experiences, I have learned the value of working for opportunities instead of expecting them to be handed to me. Every fundraiser required planning, teamwork, communication, and persistence, especially when we faced setbacks or didn’t meet our goals right away.

Before grants and sponsorships, there were a lot of one-dollar bills.

As the treasurer of Creative Innovators Project, I have also gained valuable financial and leadership experience. I have learned how to open a bank account, make deposits, write checks, keep accurate financial records, and organize our money based on the club’s needs. Before taking on this role, I had never managed an account or handled finances in such a meaningful way. Now, I have practical knowledge that will help me in future leadership positions and throughout adulthood.

Behind every competition is months of preparation. Brinley learned early that achieving big dreams means being willing to do the work no one else sees.

Since our program is entirely student-led, we were not given the funding needed to get started. Everything we have accomplished has come from our own effort. Before every competition, we dedicate nearly every weekend to planning, fundraising, and preparing, often spending hours outside in the Arizona heat. Even after all of that hard work, there were times when we still worried we wouldn’t be able to afford travel expenses. Whenever we did raise enough, it often happened at the very last minute.

Depositing Valmark’s Global Gift Fund $10,000 grant

Receiving a $10,000 grant from the Valmark Global Gift Fund was truly life-changing for our team. Seeing those numbers written on a check felt almost unreal after years of working so hard to make every dollar count. Because of that generosity, we were able to travel to Iowa and compete on the World Finals stage, an opportunity that many of us had dreamed about for years. That experience reinforced the importance of perseverance, community support, and believing that hard work can lead to incredible opportunities.

World Finals, Ames, Iowa – May 2026

Looking back, I realize these responsibilities were never just about helping our organization. They were preparing me for life. I know that wherever I go next, I won't be afraid to step up, take ownership, and help build something meaningful.

Finding a Place We All Belonged: My Journey to Creative Innovators

One of the things that makes Creative Innovators Project unique is that growth doesn't stop with the students. Families grow together. Parents become mentors, coaches, and lifelong friends, discovering and rediscovering gifts they never expected to share.

Devon's story is a wonderful example of that journey. Her passion for helping children learn, connect, and discover their own potential has become a tremendous gift to our community.

Every family writes a different story at Creative Innovators. This is Devon's.

My Journey to Creative Innovators

By Devon — Primary & Division I Leader and Coach, Creative Innovators Project

When I became a teacher, I felt pulled toward the students who learned differently, the kids who didn't fit the mold of public education. My classroom experience spans elementary-age children with learning disabilities, social and emotional challenges, and severe medical diagnoses. Different kids, different stories, but they taught me the same thing again and again: all kids want to learn. Some just need learning to connect to their lives before it becomes meaningful.

Creative Innovators Project is stronger because of Devon's unwavering belief in children's creativity, curiosity, and potential. It's a gift she shares with every student she coaches.

The curriculum I was handed in the classroom was my starting point. My students needed supplemental material; lessons rebuilt around their interests, their abilities, their questions, and their lives, before the required content could land. The more time I spent reworking lessons that way, the more I noticed something about myself: this is how I learn, too. It's how I've always learned, and it's how I actually enjoy learning. My students were no different.

Devon and her oldest daughter, Rory, at Odyssey of the Mind Regional Competition

When I became pregnant with my first daughter, I was grateful to be able to stay home with her. I was also, honestly, burned out. From teaching, and from carrying the work of creating those connections for my students on top of everything else the curriculum required. But my passion for connection didn't go anywhere. I put it into hands-on experiences for my daughters and their cousins: building things, exploring, asking questions, and following whatever they were curious about.

Devon brings the same passion for hands-on, curiosity-driven learning that shaped her classroom—and her home—to every CIP practice.

By the time my oldest started kindergarten, I already knew she needed more ways to fuel her learning than a school day could offer. A friend introduced me to a program at our school called the Creative Innovators Project, a nonprofit whose teams compete in Odyssey of the Mind — a creative problem-solving competition where kids do one hundred percent of the thinking. My daughter was in second grade and, I was fully submerged. I became her team's coach, and today I serve as CIP's Primary and Division I leader.

What started as coaching her daughter's team grew into leading Creative Innovators' Primary and Division I programs.

Here's how I teach at CIP: I don't give answers. Coaches in our program ask questions — What are you noticing? How can you test that? What can you try next? — and then we get out of the way. The kids own the problem and the solution. My lesson planning looks a lot like it did in my classroom days: I start with a connection to the kids' real lives, wrap it in an open-ended challenge within limits, put materials on the table, and let them design/create/build. Then they test what they made, and their ideas fail.

Rather than giving students solutions, Devon creates the conditions where they can discover them for themselves.

That failure is where I've seen kids grow the most. When an idea doesn't work, the important part isn't the flop — it's helping them see that failing is okay, and asking what they learned from it and what they'll try next.

Innovation isn't something we teach from the sidelines. We build, test, fail, and learn together.

Kids will stick with that hard work when the problem matters to them. When a challenge connects to their own lives and experiences, they don't quit when it gets difficult — they keep going. That's how we teach problem solving at CIP.

Devon has a gift for knowing when to step in with encouragement and when to step back, allowing students the space to discover solutions for themselves.

CIP has done the same thing for my own kids. My oldest is nine. She loves school and does well there, but what she's really drawn to is the people, her peers and her teachers. She needed a less structured place to connect with them, and that's what CIP gives her. Being part of a team has built her confidence in how she expresses herself and how she connects with the other kids.

With Devon nearby to encourage rather than take over, Reese experiences what every child deserves: the opportunity to try, to struggle, and to discover she can do hard things.

My youngest is five and is growing up in our Primary program, where nothing is scored. It's all about her curiosity. She gets handed new materials and asked what she could do with them, and she's learning how to work on a team and how to voice her own ideas.

For me, this isn't a job — I'm a volunteer. I give my time to it because of what I've watched CIP do for my own two daughters and the kids on their teams.

Whether coaching a team, leading an activity, or supporting a fundraiser, Devon's willingness to serve reflects the spirit of the Creative Innovators community.

One Opportunity at a Time: It Was Never About Starting a Nonprofit

2020 Odyssey of the Mind & 2026 Odyssey of the Mind

People often ask me why I started Creative Innovators Project.

The truth is... I definitely did not set out to start a nonprofit. Honestly, I just wanted a place where my daughter could create, explore, and experience the world in a bigger way. A place where she could ask questions, make things, solve problems, and discover who she was becoming along the way.

In many ways, though, the story started much earlier.

As a child, I participated in Odyssey of the Mind myself. I didn't know it then, but those experiences planted a seed that would quietly stay with me for years.

Fast forward to becoming a mom.

Like so many parents, I was looking for ways to enrich my daughter's education. At the same time, I was living with fibromyalgia. My world had become much smaller than I had imagined, and I was trying to figure out what the next chapter of my own life would look like. I had gone back to school, searching for purpose and wondering what I was still capable of contributing.

When Brinley was in fourth grade, I wanted her to experience Odyssey of the Mind, but our school didn't have a team.

So I walked into the principal's office at Lake Pleasant Elementary and asked a simple question.

"Would you trust me to start one?"

February 2020 Lake Pleasant Odyssey of the Mind Program with then Principal Dustin Hamman (left) & Vice Principal Tonja Neve at Central Regional Odyssey of the Mind Tournament

I wasn't a coach.

Leadership was never about standing in front of the students. It was about stepping into the circle with them.

I wasn't an engineer.

I had never led an Odyssey of the Mind team.

I was simply a parent volunteer who believed our students deserved the opportunity.

Thankfully, he said yes.

Awards Ceremony AZ OM Central Regional Tournament

Looking back, that one conversation changed the course of my life.

That first season wasn't perfect.

We learned as we went.

We made mistakes.

We figured things out one problem at a time.

And I had a team to help.

Looking back now, I realize something else.

That pattern never really changed.

Every time we reached something we didn't know how to do, we learned because we had to.

Before there were trophies, grants, or a nonprofit, there were afternoons like this—students creating simply because they loved to create.

We didn't wait until we felt qualified.

We stepped into the opportunity in front of us, learned what we needed to learn, reflected on what worked, and kept moving forward.

Without realizing it, I was living the very process I now teach our students.

As I coached, I began noticing something I couldn't stop thinking about.

The students weren't just learning creative problem-solving.

They were changing.

The quiet students found their voices.

The hesitant students became willing to take risks.

Students who had always felt different started realizing that maybe thinking differently wasn't something to hide.

Maybe it was exactly what their team needed.

Once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.

At the same time, I found myself diving into research on creativity, learning, neuroscience, psychology, trauma, and human development.

Not because I was trying to create a methodology.

I was trying to understand what I was witnessing.

Why did these students seem different after a season of creative problem-solving?

What was actually changing?

One question kept following me home.

Lake Pleasant Elementary Div 2 AZ OM State Champions Div 2 Problem “The Effective Detective”

What if the competition isn't the most important thing happening here?

What if the greatest outcome isn't the solution they build...

But the person they're becoming while they build it?

That question changed everything.

When Brinley finished eighth grade and headed to high school, we reached another crossroads.

If our students wanted to continue, there wasn't a place for them.

So once again...

We learned because we had to.

We started a nonprofit.

The nonprofit wasn't the goal. It simply made it possible to keep saying "yes" to more students.

Not because that had always been the dream.

Because we weren't ready for the journey to end.

As the organization grew, so did the questions.

Every season brought new experiences.

December 2024 Recruiting new members and introducing ourselves to the community at the Vistancia Mountain Vista Club

New challenges.

New opportunities to learn.

Every opportunity started with an empty room, a pile of supplies, and students ready to imagine what was possible.

The more I coached, the more I studied. The more I studied, the more I coached. Each informed the other, slowly shaping the philosophy and methodology that would eventually become the foundation of Creative Innovators Project.

Looking back, I can see that every step had a purpose.

Nothing was wasted.

Every challenge taught me something I would need later.

Irelyn reminded me that focus isn't something we can demand from children. When the environment is right, the challenge is meaningful, and they're free to pursue their interests, focus happens naturally.

Every obstacle prepared me for the next opportunity.

Every student became one of my greatest teachers.

Some students taught me resilience. Others taught me leadership. Elana reminded me that when children are given the freedom to follow their curiosity, creativity has a way of flourishing on its own.

Creative Innovators Project wasn't built from a master plan.

It grew because one opportunity led to another.

One lesson led to another.

One question led to another.

Feb 2026 Lake Pleasant Elementary STEAM night CIP Egg Drop

Today, our mission extends far beyond preparing students for a competition.

We're creating an environment where young people learn to think creatively, embrace challenges, solve meaningful problems, collaborate with people who think differently, and discover confidence in who they are becoming.

Because I've come to believe that the most meaningful thing we build isn't a solution.

It's the person solving it.

Today, I spend more time watching than coaching. Brinley now leads many of these conversations herself.

She didn't become a leader overnight.

She grew into it through years of opportunities, one responsibility at a time, with adults who believed she was capable long before she believed it herself.

That's the beautiful thing about community—our children aren't raised by one person alone. They're shaped by an entire village of people willing to see the best in them.

One of the greatest gifts of this journey has been watching the students I once coached become the leaders who now coach the next generation.

When I think back to that day in the principal's office, I'm incredibly grateful that someone was willing to trust a parent with an idea.

That opportunity changed my life.

Now, every week, we have the privilege of offering that same opportunity to young people—to trust them with meaningful challenges, to believe in them before they fully believe in themselves, and to watch them discover just how capable they really are.

And that, more than anything else, is why Creative Innovators Project exists.

How One Voice Can Make a Difference: A Roundabout Brings Community Advocacy Full Circle

Lauren Tegeler and fellow students speak before the Peoria City Council regarding safety concerns at the intersection of Lone Mountain Parkway and Vistancia Boulevard.

Our first blog post comes from Lauren Tegeler, a founding member of Creative Innovators Project (CIP), a longtime Odyssey of the Mind participant, and our Student Media Ambassador.

During CIP's first year, students began exploring a challenge that affected many families in our community: pedestrian and traffic safety. As they researched the issue, they learned an important lesson we often discuss at CIP—that innovation starts with understanding a problem before trying to solve it.

While the team encountered obstacles along the way, Lauren witnessed community advocacy in action through her mother, Cicely Clouse. The experience showed her how persistence, leadership, and civic engagement can help create meaning.

In her own words, Lauren shares that story below.

Lauren Tegeler and her mother, Cicely Clouse, at the intersection that inspired a community conversation about safety. Their experience reminds us that meaningful change often begins when ordinary people choose to get involved.

Photo courtesy of ABC15 Arizona

Speaking Up

Hello, my name is Lauren Tegeler, and I am a member and the Student Media Ambassador for Creative Innovators Project. One of the projects CIP had the opportunity to be involved in was observing the process for installing a roundabout at the intersection of Lone Mountain and Vistancia Blvd. 

Creating Change

My mom, Cicely Clouse, was vital in this process, speaking out about the many casualties and injuries that occurred at this intersection due to reckless driving. She also had the opportunity to speak to the city council and Mayor Beck about this issue, which thankfully helped convince them to implement a plan to make a change. Furthermore, some of my CIP teammates and I attended the city council meeting, where I had the opportunity to speak as well. 

Peoria City Council reviewed safety concerns, evaluated a roundabout proposal, and ultimately approved the project. Students had the opportunity to witness the public decision-making process firsthand.

Making an Impact

I spoke about my experience driving through that intersection and the horrible things that other people and I had witnessed. In one incident, a school bus of children aged 5 through 14 witnessed a violent accident occur, one that was so severe the school brought in a trauma counselor to speak to the students on that bus. Thankfully, the project was approved in 2024, and construction began a few weeks ago. 

Construction underway at Lone Mountain Parkway and Vistancia Boulevard following the Peoria City Council's unanimous approval of the roundabout project

Photo courtesy Lone Mountain Rd & Vistancia Blvd Website shared via City of Peoria

“This process helped me recognize how much time and effort these projects require, and that it sometimes only takes one person (such as my mom) to make a difference.”

This community update served as the inspiration for Lauren's reflection and a reminder that meaningful change doesn't happen overnight. Sometimes the most important lessons in leadership, advocacy, and problem solving unfold over months—and even years.

Photo courtesy of Vistancia Living Magazine

Lauren's story is a reminder that innovation is not limited to inventions, technology, or competitions. Sometimes innovation begins when someone sees a problem, speaks up, and works with others to create positive change.

At CIP, we believe young people can make a meaningful impact in their communities when they combine curiosity, creativity, and action. We are proud of Lauren, her family, and everyone who helped make this project a reality.

Related Resources

• ABC15 coverage of the project: "Peoria unanimously approves roundabout project for problem intersection." The article notes that crashes at the intersection increased by 375% compared to the five-year average and highlights the community advocacy that helped move the project forward.

• City of Peoria construction updates: for the Lone Mountain Road & Vistancia Boulevard Roundabout Project. The city states the roundabout is intended to improve safety, traffic flow, and overall efficiency at the intersection.