SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA is a nationwide career and technical student organization with ~400k members. They offer various competitions ranging from criminal forensic organization to culinary arts, all with the intention of giving students work similar to what they would be involved in at a real job. I competed in the Architectural Drafting event.
Nationals Competition <-- Click the link to view what I submitted.
This project was to build a house for a married couple. The plot was was on a slope and included a small stream. The people wanted lots of views of the stream, various different rooms, a handicap accessible entrance, and more. The competition was eight hours. No internet access was permitted. The required submissions were as follows: a floor plan, four elevations, a section plan, a door and window schedule, a site plan, and a roof plan. I had the best floor plan, but did less well on the roof plan and site plan. I placed third nationally.
The entire eight hours I stood in front of a computer aside from once leaving for the bathroom. I often assume that the best things for oneself are those which would exist in a primal human state, like a natural diet or being outside often. Though an event like this serves as a counterpoint. This extremely artificial activity was exhilarating the whole time. The whole time I was extremely focused. I did tons of novel things such as changing the perspective of elevations, building with handicap accessibility in mind, making a crawlspace, dormers, a detailed full house section plan, a site plan, a roof plan, and other things. I was most impressed by my speed/efficiency this entire project in a day, whereas a project with these specifications would've taken three school weeks of fifty minute classes. Overall highly enjoyable, taught me how efficient I can be.