The Northrop Grumman (now Huntington Ingalls Industries, Incorporated) Apprentice School, in cooperation with several area businesses, sponsors an annual boat-design competition for high school students to increase awareness of the naval architecture profession and the shipbuilding industry. The competition engages students' math, science, technology, and creative abilities and introduces them to engineering concepts, drafting, project planning, and leadership principles. As a technology and engineering design teacher, the author introduced his classes to the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Student Boat Building contest. Accordingly, the students were enthusiastic about the idea of participating in the contest and applying skills they were learning in their 3-D modeling and engineering design classes. In this article, the author stresses that a significant highlight of the competitive event is that it provides a "real-world" engineering design activity that is free and open to all area high schools. (Contains 6 figures.)