It’s fine not to want to do something just for college admissions. You decide how much you want a college that looks for certain things, certain balance, more than just a nice hs record and purported passions. Same as in life. If you want some particular job field, you need to meet their expectations, whether or not some individual thing is your preference.
The summer project may help others (or not; or be same as other ongoing work,) but these colleges aren’t looking for gilded onesies. They know the chances some hs kid will invent the next big deal, all on his own, are rare.
“Spike” on CC is a little off. It’s not about unilateral. It’s not about winning some big award.
You’ve got to go straight to the source, what the colleges say, not the mish mash of CC.
Please go research. You have to show them what they want to see, if you want them to want you. To do that, you need a better idea of what that is than catch phrases.
Otherwise, you may spin your wheels. Do it, then I and some others can help fill in blanks. You wouldn’t code something without knowing the goals, the context and background, right? if you needed to polish some aspect of your skills, you would right?