Every Monday morning, you’ll see a flock of students make their weekly pilgrimage to Ridge. What motivates them to voluntarily come to school extra early on a Monday morning? Free bagels in the cafeteria? Extra credit to help floundering grades? Are they just insane?

These dedicated students come for chemistry league training. They come every Monday to prepare themselves in hopes of snagging the four spots on the team to represent Ridge in the Chemistry League competition.

Chemistry League is just one of nine categories of the New Jersey Science League. Teams of four compete in each category against other schools across the state in multiple-choice science contests. The teams compete once a month from January to April, after school in a different host school each time. Members of the teams are selected through an intense qualification process in which dozens of students fight for the four spots.

There is a lot of scientific talent at Ridge. According to Mrs. Mitchell, Chemistry I League Advisor, the school has been participating in Science League for over 14 years and has an extremely strong record. Last year all teams (Bio I, Bio II, Chem I, Chem II, Physics I and Physics C) placed in the top 10 schools in the state of New Jersey. In the most recent January 2014 competition, Ridge took first place in all categories.

But still, why would students voluntarily sign up to take a science test and wake up extra early to prepare for it?

There are a plethora of reasons for the popularity of science league. First, as any competition does, science league offers its participants some status. Mrs. Mitchell explains, “I think that when a student is eligible to participate on a Science League team, it represents the achievement of a personal goal.  Since we can have only 4 members on a team, those members have demonstrated that they have an excellent grasp of the material.  To compete against all the other schools in New Jersey and place in the top 10 schools is quite an accomplishment.”

Willa Yu ‘15, member on the Physics I team agrees: “I think people participate because of their interest in sciences and the fact that ranking is impressive on a college app. I really like physics and also I want to see if I can rank.”

Besides offering opportunities for academic recognition, Science League also helps students improve academically.

Former Chemistry I team and current Physics I team member, Connor McKeon ’15 offers, “Many people come to science league meetings strictly for the extra practice it gives them for their courses.” The training sessions before or after school teach students material ahead of time, so by the time they learn it in class, it will be review for them. The extra practice truly helps in the long run regardless if one qualifies for the Science League teams.

In the meantime, Science League challenges students to delve deeper into the material than what is covered in classrooms, so students are able to further their understanding of the sciences.

“I started participating in science league in sophomore year because I really liked chemistry class and Mrs. Mitchell was really nice. When I started out I hadn’t planned to participate too seriously,” three-year Science League veteran, Cathy Chen ’14, explains. “The reason I started participating more intensively was because even though the problems in science league come from the same topics in our textbooks, some of the problems get pretty deep into really explaining how the concepts work. I think many other students who participate in science league like science a lot in general and science league offers another avenue for finding out more about a subject they love.”

She brings up another main driving force for participation in Science League which is the passion for science. Member of Chemistry I (currently) and Biology I (last year), Srinivas Mandyam ’16 exemplifies this interest in science as well. “I do science league because science is one of my favorite subjects, and the opportunities to challenge myself in that field are somewhat limited. Science league lets me channel my interests, and motivates me to continue doing so.”

Chen ’14 suggests another factor of Science League that draws students in: “Even though we could just do the practice problems or find general problems online, I think having the competition aspect and monthly topics gives an internal psychological pressure as an added motivation.”

The competition aspect of Science League helps students push themselves, and makes Science League all the more interesting. It provides a different venue in which students can spend time pursuing their interests and meeting others who are equally as passionate about science.

Not only does Science League help students’ current studies and passions, but also it influences students’ futures. Strong passions lead to potential career paths.

McKeon ’15 sums it all up by stating, “I am heavily considering studying further in science and engineering fields and possibly entering careers there.  Science League offers both an opportunity to learn more about these subjects than we learn in school, while also an opportunity to acquire achievements and awards in scientific fields.”

Mitchell concludes, “Science can be such an interesting subject and there are so many paths that a student can take when pursuing a career in the field.  I feel that being a member of a science team can help students gain an edge when applying to colleges.  It is definitely a plus.  It represents a lot of hard work and perseverance and I think colleges recognize this.”

With all these benefits, both short and long term, maybe those early birds who flock to the school on Monday mornings aren’t so crazy after all. They’re just crazy about science.