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What began as a senior capstone project has turned into a professional partnership for recent �鶹��Ƶ���� graduate, John Abboud ’26.

As part of �鶹��Ƶ����’s Senior Consulting Project, Abboud, a Personal Financial Planning major, and his classmates served as consultants for , the iconic Peoria-area manufacturer known for its arcade basketball games. The capstone experience pairs teams of students with local businesses to analyze operations, identify opportunities, and develop strategic recommendations based on research, interviews and industry best practices.

For Abboud, the project aligned perfectly with work he was already pursuing outside the classroom.

“While I was starting my own AI automation company, , I got placed on the Pop-A-Shot senior consulting project,” he said. “We spent the semester digging into how they ran things—interviews, market research, the whole process—and one of the biggest things that stood out to me was how much of their customer support was still being handled manually.”

As the team developed its recommendations for Pop-A-Shot, Abboud saw an opportunity to apply artificial intelligence to improve the company’s customer service operations.

“I could see AI being the key to fixing that,” he said. “When we put together our final recommendations, that was the piece I pushed hardest on. Tony Stucker [Pop-A-Shot’s co-owner] was into it, and I told him I was the guy who knew how to build it, not just recommend it.”

The Senior Consulting Project gave Abboud the opportunity to demonstrate both his analytical skills and his technical expertise while building a relationship with Pop-A-Shot’s leadership.

“The senior consulting project helped me build trust with Tony,” Abboud said. “�鶹��Ƶ���� a week after our presentation, he reached out and asked if I’d come in and talk about turning that recommendation into something real.”

After several months of meetings, planning, and refining the project’s scope, Abboud developed a custom proposal and demonstration for the company. Today, he is building a customized AI-powered customer support system designed specifically for Pop-A-Shot’s business.

For Abboud, the experience demonstrates the value of �鶹��Ƶ����’s hands-on approach to learning. “The project gave us the chance to work on a real business challenge, present solutions to company leadership, and see those ideas make an impact,” he said. “It’s been incredible to watch something that started as a class project turn into a real business partnership.”

�鶹��Ƶ����’s Senior Consulting Project gives students the opportunity to work directly with businesses throughout the region, applying classroom knowledge to real-world challenges while providing organizations with research-driven recommendations that can help shape their future.

—Emily Potts