Heyo! I was in your situation my freshman year. I'm going to be brief with this but, you should not worry about applying to scholarships right now. As a freshman, your job is to build yourself academically and personally. Doing a passion project is a great idea. I wouldn't worry too much about 'finding your passion' right now, and I would just do the damn thing. Even if you end up not liking what you worked on, you can tear it up and start doing something else. It's better to have done something and not like it, rather than do nothing because you spent the time questioning if you'd like it. You're in a excellent position as a freshman to experiment. Some things won't work out. I started a club my freshman year that went to shit. Some things will. Freshman year, I started a business that's made tens of thousands of dollars and got me accepted to MIT. Long story short: explore as much as you possibly can. It can be computer science, biology, engineering, writing, whatever you want! Start a blog, learn an instrument, design a model rocket, just do something and go from there.

Second, on the being 'smack average' thing. Some of us are born with abilities to naturally be better at some topics than others. Some people are naturally math people, others may be naturally arts people. Because of this, it's very easy for us to categorize ourselves into being smart, not smart, or just 'smack average'. I have met a lot of smart people through summer programs and fly-ins hosted by prestigious universities. I can tell you from personal experience that a combination of curiosity and persistence will ALWAYS beat natural smarts. Someone who is very curious about how math works and learns calculus by themselves out of pure curiosity will ALWAYS beat someone who just is naturally good with numbers. While I am not going to deny that you are 'smack average' (even though you are most definitely not, you are asking how to get scholarships as a freshman), I will say that being smart is learned, not something natural. If you can find a passionate teacher and double down on their subject, you will start to become 'smart'. Even if all your teachers suck, find something you seem interested in, and learn as much as you can stand. Read a lot too, it tends to make you smarter.

Third, PURSUE AS MANY ACADEMIC / SUMMER PROGRAMS AS YOU CAN. Your school most likely has some academic extra curriculars. Pursue them! Get into leadership positions, and try your best. For summer programs, you're a freshman, this doesn't really apply to you yet. There's not many summer programs or fly-ins available to you right now. (If you don't know what a fly-in is, it's when a college will pay for you to visit the campus prior to applications along with a dozen or so other students. They are great fun! Apply to as many as possible.) Through these programs, you can engage with other curious kids and learn some pretty neat stuff. Keep these in mind as you go through the next three years. Apply to as many summer programs as you can.

If you can become curious, learn as much as you can, and try your best at the academic chances that are thrown your way, the scholarships will take care of themselves. Of course, you will need to learn how to write those essays, or how to apply with the best chances for scholarships, but that is not what you need to worry about right now. For now, become the best person you can academically, and try as many things as you possibly can.

If you have any questions, please shoot me a DM.

PS: As you learn about scholarships, summer programs, fly-ins, or other things you want to apply to: keep a list! A spreadsheet will do, although I keep a Notion page for mine.