LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Blizzard Boss rolled up to Lanesborough Elementary School on Monday morning. The kids had been anxiously waiting to see the big yellow truck but its arrival had been delayed by — that's right — a blizzard. 

 

The fifth-grade class had won the state Department of Transportation's fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest back in December. On Monday, they unveiled the sign on the side of the truck that included the school's name and a polar bear in a "boss" suit.

 

MassDOT received more than 500 entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name 12 MassDOT snowplows in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. Blizzard Boss is part of the District 1 fleet. 

 

Gina Wagner, the English language arts teacher, has had her students write a story about a plow for each contest. 

 

"So each year, they come up with a name and then they have to write a narrative story where they write from the point of view of the snowplow that they have named, and they have to include lots of sensory details and imagery in it," she said.

 

Students received a copy of the sign to place in the classroom, and MassDOT officials brought goodies like plastic helmets and a $100 gift card for the classroom for their supplies. The best part, it seemed, was the chance to climb into the cab of the honk the horn.  

 

State Rep. John Barrett III and state Sen. Paul Mark attended the unveiling and told the kids how cool it is to be selected.

 

"You came up with the best name out of 500 schools in the entire state. That's really impressive. It's a great name. It's a lot of fun that you were able to do this," said Mark. "And you're going to get some fun prizes that you'll remember this by and for. Every year that kids now come into your classroom, they're going to remember it was the fifth grade back in 2026. They were the smartest ones, because they came up with this name."

 

The heavy-duty dump truck is only about a year old. The members of the MassDOT crew was excited to interact with the kids and hoped it might make them think of a career with public service.

 

"The whole idea is that we want the kids in these schools to be able to connect with the work that's being done out on the streets. You know, MassDOT is statewide. One of its fundamental things is to keep people safe on our roadways, and these vehicles are a big part of that," said Director of Communications Marshall Hook. "So that's kind of the impetus, and it gets them to not only connect with the vehicle, but obviously the women and men who drive them and who are out there in the storms."

 

Hooks said the name will stay thorugh the life of the plow.

 

"As long as this plow is on the road, it's going to be The Blizzard Boss. And you can see it's got the name of the school and the town on it as well, and it works locally in the district," he said. "So the hope is that these kids will be out there with their parents, and they'll see their school name, and it's a fairly new truck, so it's going to be out there for a while."

 

Student Mason LeBarron came up with the name and was the one to unveil the name. He said his story is about the plow tackling a blizzard in Boston.

 

"It's about a little plow truck that plows the roads and he goes to Boston and the storm comes," he said.

 

The students said they are excited to look out for the plow when it is clearing snow and thought it was cool to experience the plow's name.