Student-named snowplows visit Vermont schools

RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) - The Vermont Agency of Transportation has been running a program allowing students across the state to name its snowplows. Wednesday, kids had the opportunity to see the trucks in person and meet their drivers.

A fifth-grade class at Rutland Intermediate School came up with the name Luke Snow Walker. And in a schoolwide vote, it became “the chosen one!”

“Thank you to Colby for coming up with the name. My class thought it was super funny and we were sort of hoping for them to choose it,” said Carter Fitzsimmons, a fifth-grader.

Lee Alarie says he’s proud to play a role and is excited to see the truck on the road this winter.

“Every time I will see that, I will just hold up one of my cats and say, ‘Look kitty, there’s the snowplow we named,’” said Alarie, a fourth-grader.

Laura Morgan is driving Luke Snow Walker this winter. She’ll be using the force of the Rutland Intermediate School to get the job done. She’s bragged about the truck’s new name.

“I have! It’s cool,” Morgan said. “I like the name because I’m a ‘Star Wars’ buff anyway.”

The idea came from Scotland where people began naming their plow trucks.

Todd Law, deputy director of district maintenance and fleet division for VTrans, thought it would be fun for kids and double as a way for them to meet the drivers who help them get to school safely in the winter.

“They adopt these plow drivers and the trucks and everything else. It’s just such a feel-good story that the kids do understand. Sometimes when we get older we lose focus on that; we should be appreciative of all these things,” Law said.

The kids even received stickers with the name of their plow truck.

Across the state, students got creative with names like Snow Day Stopper, Green Mountain Plower and Plow-a-Tron 6000. Also in the fleet are Ice Claw, Glacier and Ice Ice Baby. One town truck was named Yogi after the head of Huntington’s road crew. Another group of students named their truck Dorito and gave the driver a bag of the chips. Click here for the full list of names.

“It’s sort of more funner knowing that there’s a truck going around that I helped name,” Fitzsimmons said.

Morgan says Luke Snow Walker made his first voyage out in the snow on Saturday and she guesses he will probably be out again early next week.

Related Stories:

VTrans releases names for ‘Name a Plow’ contest

VTrans expands school ‘Name a Plow’ contest

Vt. school kids tasked with naming VTrans plow fleet

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