As an acronym - FIRST
For
Insipiration and
Recognizition of
Science and
Technology.
Maybe it's a bit cheesy, but it's a nice organization.
They run the annual FIRST robotics competition, where high schools team up with universities and businesses to create, in six weeks, a robot to compete in a yearly-changing game of some sort.
The organization supplies a large set of parts (all of the needed control system electronics, motors, some odd parts) but large amounts of design, wood, metal, and who knows what else is needed to finish the robots, which are roughly 4 x 4 x 4 ft, and weigh up to 130 pounds.
Six weeks isn't a lot of time; during the construction time, my teammates and I spent about 50 hours a week on this, in addition to regular classes and schoolwork. Needless to say, we lost some sleep.
It's a wonderful learning experience; we had find sponsors, get money (budget ~$20,000), get engineers to help us, design, prototype, and build. Lots of work, but hands-on, creative, and
very cool.