Research and Competitions advice

I am a rising sophomore. In the summer of 2023, I moved from India to the US. I plan to major in Mechanical Engineering. The College admissions are way different than I expected but, I got some understanding of it. I figured out about academics and what courses to take. But, I didn't know which extracurricular would stand out in college admission, then, I decided to do competitions this academic year. My list of competitions to try my best are:

+ ISEF

+ Biology Olympiad (National level At least)

+ Le Concours (A French Contest)

+ National Science Olympiad (National Level At Least)

+ National History Day (Nationals)

+ National Economics Challenge

I was wondering for a bit about preparing for the AMC, but, it's so time-consuming, and decided to go all in to do research and try my best shot at ISEF (or in 2025). I planned to create a research question at the start of the school year and do preliminary research on it for a couple of weeks regularly and then, enroll in community college classes related to the field of study. I think this would help me get into summer programs next year (maybe Internships). I was wondering if anyone could provide me with your advice on this and help to get started in the research process.