Welcome to the sport Buckfever. This sounds like it is going to be an awsome senior project for you! Archery is a blast and very addictive.

As far as a new bow goes, you can check around your local archery pro-shops and get prices! Bow prices range anywhere from $150-$750. Most lower-end bows cost around $300! The Hoyt Ultra-Mag, Browning Tornado, and Martin Tracer Mag are some nice bows that I have had the chance to mess with and these bows are around $300 (bare bow). Definetly head to your local pro-shop, tell them about your project and get some help, they should be able to set you up with the right bow!

As far as the stages go, they seem good to me! Tournaments aren't very hard to find at all and you should easily be able to enter!

I am sure that others will chime in with more good info! Good luck and have fun with archery.