by Clarence Fanto - Berkshire Eagle
LENOX — Meet Snowana.
This state-owned snowplow is now the proud bearer of the award-winning name created by 18 students of Katie Simonelli’s second-grade class at Morris Elementary School.
As part of the state Department of Transportation’s third annual “Name a Snowplow” contest for elementary and middle schools, students at the Lenox school were treated to a celebration with active DOT snowplows, officials and elected leaders in 10-degree weather outside the West Street school on Tuesday.
They also got a chance to climb up into the driver's seat of one of the “Snowanas” (think Moana, the beloved Disney character and star of two ‘Moana’ film superhits). They honked the super-loud warning horn, much to the delight of their classmates. Two of the state's plows will carry the insignia of the school and the Snowana logo as they continue to clear snow this winter and for years to come.
“The kids all had different ideas,” said Simonelli, in her second year at Morris after 14 years teaching kindergarten at Allendale Elementary School in Pittsfield. “We wrote a bunch of names on the board and we held a class vote from 10 choices. One of the kids thought of ‘Snowana,’ the film was very popular with this class in the fall. We counted up the votes, and the majority picked the winner.”
“I like to tell the kids, when you see me on TV, remember my face because it probably means you’re not going to have school the next day,” Gulliver told the students, earning him hearty laughter. “Congratulations on coming up with a great name, it’s going to be on the plow basically forever. And you’ll see it driving by, taking care of your roadways.”
Also attending the unveiling for the sign was MassDOT District 1 Director Francisca Heming as well as Transportation Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt, who thanked the kids for sharing top honors with a dozen statewide winners among 900 entries judged by MassDOT employees.
“My daughter’s in second grade and she thought yours name was the absolute best one,” she said.
Simonelli’s class took first place in the kindergarten through fourth grade contest division in MassDOT’s western Region 1 of 56 towns and cities, including all of Berkshire County.
In the fifth through eighth grade group, Jeff Uhas’ fifth graders at Pine Cobble School in Williamstown won for their choice, “Ice Ice Baby,” also the title of a song by Vanilla Ice a-k-a Robert Matthew Van Winkle, the rapper, actor, and TV host.