On the engineering side, Rocketry a possible option

For those students and teacher who look for engineering challenges, don't forget about rocketry. This is a huge hobbyist field, and there are so many commercial kits and sets one can purchase (many smaller rockets can be purchased for under $100, for instance). And there are also so many videos available on YouTube and other rocketry sites to get ideas for building your own.

Learn about structures and the stresses they undergo on a launch, the chemistry of rocket fuels and motors, the areas of physics called aerodynamics and fluid mechanics, electronics if you want Arduino or Raspberry pi based sensors in the rocket, and so on. This could be a nice way to build interest among larger groups of students and just start with purchased kits; learn from the kits, and let students begin to make their own designs and test them. Just something to consider if there is an interest.

At the college level, many engineering colleges and universities will have rocketry clubs. Check out USC's rocket, the first to have an all-student group build, from scratch, a rocket that surpassed the Karman line, which is the established boundary something needs to cross to be considered in space.

Check out this article and video of a rhenium molecule moving around two carbon nanotubes. You can see the two atoms move far apart, when the bond breaks, and then re-bonds back into the molecule. VERY COOL!! This is but another example of incredible electron microscopy techniques that your generation has available, and who knows what remains to be invented and discovered with such instruments. While this is outside the realm of 'basement science,' it never hurts to see what is out there as high school students, so you can have some sense of what awaits you should you pursue STEM in college and beyond!