Old rivalries were reignited in March as Bob Jones High School faced off against Brooks High School for the Envirobowl state championship.

Just a few months prior, Brooks had defeated Bob Jones to claim first place in our region. Both schools, having finished in the top three in the regional competition, advanced to the state competition of the environmentally-centered scholars bowl.

The team, comprised of seniors Daniel Lang and David Gunther and juniors Nathan Fox, Siddhu Srikakolapu, and Alan Philip George, fell to Brooks yet again in the state championship to take home second place.

This time, though, the field was more competitive. “Out of the top sixteen high schools in the state of Alabama, the last two left standing were Bob Jones and Brooks,” Gunther said.

The fact that both the first and second place teams at the state competition hail from the same region speaks volumes about the quality of education in northern Alabama. It is a powerful demonstration of the intelligence and motivation possessed by both students and teachers in this area.

Of the students on his own team, Bob Jones Envirobowl sponsor Ben Johnston had nothing but positive things to say.

“This team was not only brilliant, but cool as well. And those two things aren’t always found together,” Johnston, who first sponsored a Bob Jones Envirobowl team in 1997, also noted that this year’s finish was the “best in school history,” missing out on first place by “only one question.”

This impressive finish is compounded by the fact that every member of this year’s team was participating in Envirobowl for the first time.

“Since we were all new to Envirobowl, it was a learning experience for all of us,” Srikakolapu said. Sights are set high for next year’s Envirobowl squad, which will return three out of five members.

According to Johnston, though, the real winners in this situation are any people enlightened by enhanced knowledge of the environment and humankind’s relationship with it.

“The more attention we can bring to the environment in Alabama the better,” Johnston says. “I find it peculiar that a state with so many natural resources, including being one of the most biologically diverse states in the country, would also be the most resistant to protecting it.”

Competitions like Envirobowl are just what our state needs to foster critical thinking about environmental issues.