School life / School snowplow naming in 2021, 2023 and 2026
The snowplow needs to meet the cat
Once children name a truck, road maintenance becomes a much more personal business.
Lee Alarie, a fourth grader at Rutland Intermediate School in Vermont, had a plan for Luke Snow Walker, the plow his school voted to name. He told WCAX in 2021 that whenever he saw it, he would hold up one of his cats and make the introduction.
Driver Laura Morgan liked the name for Star Wars reasons.
A worksheet stays in a folder. A named plow turns up on your street with its blade attached, and a parent can expect every storm to be treated as a family matter.
At Osseo Middle School in Minnesota, teacher Ann Mack tied a lesson on what state government does, road maintenance included, to the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Name a Snowplow contest. Her sixth graders wanted to pair a famous Minnesotan with a snow word. After a class vote of 33 students, Blizzo beat Plow Dylan for the title. Lizzo gave the name a shout-out, and in May 2023 the plow itself came to visit.
Most civics units end with a quiz. This one ended with the subject dropping by.
In Mahopac, New York, Lakeview Elementary librarian Maria Bohan shared Katy and the Big Snow with her students. Kindergartner Cassandra Dever and first grader Maggie Ford then brainstormed together and settled on Frosty. Bohan submitted it, and the district reported in January 2026 that it was among the winners of Putnam County's first snowplow-naming contest.
After Blizzo and Plow Dylan, Frosty is a plow in a scarf. Nobody has to explain a discography to say it.
Lee's chosen audience has whiskers, presumably a sunny windowsill, and no stake whatsoever in road maintenance.