RIT students develop AI-powered software system to help KidsOutAndAbout.com grow into new cities across the U.S. and Canada

Rochester, New York – While many college seniors are wrapping up their final semesters with exams or celebratory parties, a group of software engineering students at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has been focused on building a powerful AI-driven tool that could soon change how families across North America find fun and meaningful local events.

As part of their capstone Senior Project course, seven RIT students have teamed up with KidsOutAndAbout.com, a Rochester-based online event platform, to develop a smart, automated system designed to help the small business expand far beyond its current reach. The company, which has been around since 2001, curates family-friendly local events through a network of regional calendars, but its growth has been limited by the manual processes it relies on to gather and post listings.

Now, thanks to this student-driven innovation, KidsOutAndAbout.com may finally be able to scale up operations across all corners of the U.S. and Canada—quickly, efficiently, and with minimal added labor.

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“It’s a great experience to work with a small business and at every meeting we can truly feel the impact that our eventual product will have,” said Chris Shepard, a software engineering student team member who is from Cheshire, Conn. “It gives us a lot of context for how many businesses operate, which is knowledge we wouldn’t have gotten inside the classroom.”

The students’ work is a two-part system powered by artificial intelligence and automation. First, the team built a custom web scraper that automatically pulls pages from business websites. Then, using a large language model (LLM) they trained themselves, the system determines if those pages contain valid event information. If the AI confirms a match, the page gets forwarded to the site’s content team for final review and posting.

It’s a simple yet transformative solution to a long-standing problem.

Before this system, most events were added to the site manually by businesses and verified by a team of just seven employees. This time-consuming task has been the primary bottleneck preventing the company from growing beyond its 52 active markets in North America.

The AI now handles the bulk of that grunt work—and it doesn’t stop there.

The second part of the system uses Google Places API to locate potential new event-hosting businesses in previously untapped regions. With this tool, expansion becomes less about hours of human research and more about targeted, data-backed strategy.

“The API allows us to search for categories and locations,” said Shepard. “So, when they want to expand to a new region, they don’t need to manually try and find new businesses—the entire process is automatic.”

One demonstration of the system’s capabilities occurred during testing in Anchorage, Alaska. The tool identified 600 new organizations with event potential—ones that hadn’t yet been added to KidsOutAndAbout.com. What would have taken a full week of human research was done in two minutes.

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“Thanks to this student-led innovation, we’ll finally be able to extend our reach everywhere—not just major markets,” said Debra Ross, publisher and founder of KidsOutAndAbout.com. “What’s especially exciting is that the solution they’re developing will increase person-to-person connection between the creators of community experiences and their audiences—at a time when so many fear that AI replaces rather than enhances human connection.”

Ross’s words reflect a broader hope that technology, especially AI, can be used to empower communities rather than isolate them. For KidsOutAndAbout.com, the goal is not just growth but connection—helping families discover real-world events and experiences in their neighborhoods.

The student team includes Chris Shepard, JD Bartholomew, Alec Haag, Edward Teutle, Eva Stoddard, Joe Wesnofske, and Jahmir Hinds—all senior software engineering majors. They have now entered the summer semester, the final stretch of their project, where they are preparing the system for launch and implementation.

“Our big goal this summer is to get everything up and running in the AWS cloud, make the AI model as accurate as possible, and work directly with the content management team to work out any bugs found in the user interface,” said Bartholomew, who is from Weston, Mass. “It’ll be busy, but we are looking forward to it.”

Beyond the technical accomplishments, students say they’ve learned valuable real-world lessons—about managing time, balancing priorities, and building cost-effective tools that meet the actual needs of a business. Working closely with a small company has also helped them understand how software can support not just operations, but the mission of an organization.

Their work demonstrates how university-industry partnerships can spark innovation and give students a chance to make a tangible impact before even entering the workforce.

As for KidsOutAndAbout.com, this might just be the beginning of a new era. With AI doing the heavy lifting, the company can now explore small cities, rural communities, and underrepresented regions—places that large media companies often overlook. And in doing so, the platform can help families everywhere find local experiences that bring them joy, connection, and a sense of belonging.

At a time when many fear that technology pulls people apart, this RIT project is proving that, with the right intention and a thoughtful design, it can just as easily bring them closer together.