In 2019, a dozen middle school students, united by their love for science, began to meet to discuss a broad spectrum of scientific themes from rocketry to evolution. We independently studied topics of our interest and prepared lectures to discuss among ourselves. These meetings became the highlight of our afterschool activities during the pandemic, through virtual meetings led by Mr. Wagner, our science teacher and biggest supporter. We called ourselves the Mighty Chondria.

Five years later the group still runs strong in high school. Besides student presentations, we also host guest speakers over the course of the year —both in person and virtually, now led by our teachers Mr. Epstein and Dr. Shearer.