Chester, Westfield pupils win snowplow naming contestDate: 1/17/2024 The Massachusetts Department of Transportation recently announced the winners of the second annual “Name a Snowplow” contest for statewide elementary and middle school students in Massachusetts, and they include a fourth grade class from Chester and a first grade class in Westfield.
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season, and to help recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors in winter.?
Entries were submitted by public school classrooms from across Massachusetts, and a selection panel of MassDOT employees chose names for 12 snowplows, two from each highway district, that will be in service during this winter season. Two winners were chosen in each district, one from kindergarten through grade 4, and one from grades 5-8.
The winning elementary school entry from District 1, which covers the Berkshires area, was “Flower Plower,” from Chester Elementary School’s fourth grade class taught by Mikayla Menin.
Menin said after receiving an email about the contest from Chester Principal Vanna Maffuccio, students worked on it together as a class during their morning meeting time.
She said the Chester students were eager to enter, being very familiar with the trials of snow plowing in the winter.
“There’s a good chunk of kids in here whose dads do it — my husband’s a plow truck driver, too. We talk about it all the time,” Menin said. “We were brainstorming together as a class, rhyming different words with plowing … plower … and came up with ‘flower.’ We were really excited,”
The winning elementary school entry from District 2, which covers the Pioneer Valley area, was “Glacier Gobbler” from a first grade class in Westfield’s Franklin Avenue Elementary School taught by McKenna Mortimer.
Mortimer said she was alerted to the contest by one of her students’ moms, who reached out to her after seeing it, thinking it would be a fun activity for the class.
The first graders needed some explanation of the contest, she said.
“We started talking about public services — what is a snowplow. I showed them a picture, and we watched a video about it, which led to a discussion about community workers, the Department of Transportation, and what that is,” Mortimer said. “I’m always looking for them to get involved in the community.”
She gave her students a few days to come up with names, which could not be a person or place, and they brought their ideas back to the class for a vote. She said the class voted on the name “Glacier Gobblers.”
The winning names will each go on a snowplow working in the respective highway districts, and that snowplow will visit the school sometime in February for a photo with the students. Each class will also receive $100 for class supplies.
Menin said she plans to use the winnings to get more hands-on supplies for her students. “We’re going to put it towards something that can carry over from year to year,” she said.
The other winners in the elementary and middle school categories were: “Edward Blizzardhands,” “Polar Pathmaker,” “Snow B Wan Kenobi,” “The Snolar Express,” “Sleetwood Mac,” “Snow Place Like Home,” “Snow-hemian Rhapsody,” “The Mayplower,” “Snow Monstah” (from District 6 in Boston) and “Fast and Flurryous.”
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