Columbia State Community College Wins CHS Academic Booster Bowl
Photo Caption: Pictured, left to right: Wes Dulaney, assistant professor of biology; Stuart Lenig, professor of communications and drama; Barry Gidcomb, professor of history; and David White, assistant professor of chemistry.
The winning team included Wes Dulaney, assistant professor of biology; Barry Gidcomb, professor of history; Stuart Lenig, professor of communications and drama; and David White, assistant professor of chemistry.
"It truly took the entire team to win," said Victory Gay, dean of humanities and social sciences. "Each player answered several questions, so they all were superstars. I am proud and humbled working with such bright colleagues."
White himself was a quiz bowl coach at Bob Jones High School in Madison, Alabama for nine years so he was very interested in participating and was excited when Gay recruited him.
"I love games like this," White said. "I've been playing Trivial Pursuit and watching Jeopardy since I was young."
Questions covered a wide range of topics including chemistry, history, politics, logic, music, television and pop culture.
"I wanted to be prepared for this event," Lenig said. "I intentionally kept up with the news as well as watched current programming."
The Columbia State team joined in the challenge with other community groups such as banks, the bar association, realtors, and the medical association.
"The team of physicians participates almost every year and they are usually the team to beat," Gidcomb said. "They have won this competition several times. We beat them in the finals in 2005, and we also beat them in 2013 and again this year, so we are on a roll."
Columbia State has been participating in the Academic Bowl for 15 years with Gidcomb and Lenig being long time members.
"We were pretty bad at it when we started out," Gidcomb continued. "We got better over the years until competing against the doctors in the finals every year kind of became a regular event, and we usually lost, with the "Miracle in 2005" being the exception."
"Last year, however, our wonderful coach, Victoria Gay, recruited a couple of science faculty to join Stuart and me, and suddenly our team was awesome," Gidcomb pointed out.
For the second year in a row, Columbia State's team reigns as champions of the CHS Academic Bowl - a distinction that should make students, faculty and staff proud.