When the clock strikes 3:50 p.m. on Thursdays, most students are ready to get on the buses and go home. But some students know they still have about five hours left to stay at school.

Many students who are part of the Jefferson Varsity Math Team attended their first of 14 after-school practices on Feb. 7 for American Regions Mathematics League (ARML), an annual math competition held at universities around the country including Penn State University.

Every week there is a set schedule. From 4 to 6:15 p.m., students can be found in a computer lab or classroom playing computer games or doing homework. For the next 45 minutes, students are lectured on a specific topic that varies week to week.

Following that are practice team rounds, individual rounds and relays. The scores from each of these components are used to determine the team rankings and who gets to go to the actual competition, which will be held on June 1.

Math Team statistician Archis Bhandarkar likes the energy members bring to the practices.

“I love the camaraderie and solving problems. It invigorates me,” he said.