Whether it’s sports, academics or artistic endeavors, the rivalry between the two Lawrence high schools runs very deep. As we all know, rivalries can be very good and very bad. In February, LJWorld Entertainment Editor Jon Niccum reported in the Journal-World that students from both, Lawrence and Free State, high schools produced “lip dubs” with very successful results.

Lawrence High School’s rendition of “Kids in America” was made public first and got a lot of attention. According to the post on room125productions’ YouTube channel, the version originally posted had more than 130,000 views — not too shabby, in my opinion. (Unfortunately, the original video was hacked and the channel had to delete the video and repost it.)

Free State’s “lip dub” was made public just a short time later and also received a lot of attention (according to the page view count on the freestatelipdub YouTube channel, the video has been watched more than 4,000 times). Again, pretty impressive.

The work of both student bodies should be celebrated and enjoyed, but the sad reality is that the intensity of the rivalry in Lawrence pushes some to maliciously damage the work of others. Like Niccum, I have no direct ties to either Lawrence school and have nothing but positive feelings toward both. So, here’s to hoping that students at both schools will start appreciating the work of their competitors, and instead of publicly condemning it or vandalizing it, will work to top the other through their performance or production. I’m not against a good rivalry, but rivalries should push people to get better and do better — not destroy and criticize.

For those of you who have yet to see the videos, definitely check them out: