MnDOT’s ‘Blizzo’ Visits Osseo Middle School
Ann Mack took her sixth-grade class at Osseo Middle School outside Thursday morning.
The combined history-civics-current events lesson she had in mind was also a hands-on learning experience. Her students got to see up-close and climb inside the MnDOT snow plow they helped name “Blizzo.”
“We had been brainstorming good ideas and we had some laughs,” said Mack, now in her 25th year of teaching. “We entered and then they continued to ask me, and then when we made the top 60 that’s when sort of the media campaign for this class began.”
“Blizzo,” a MnDOT snow plow based in Minneapolis, visited Osseo Middle School on Thursday, where sixth graders who picked the name got to see it up close.
Each year for the past three winters, MnDOT has sponsored a “Name A Snow Plow” contest by taking submissions of names, narrowing the list to 60 and then voters select the winners.
Students credited Joey Zenga with coming up with “Blizzo,” a nod to the Grammy Award-winning singer who lived for several years in the Twin Cities.
“It’s the only thing I could think of,” Zenga said with a dose of modesty.
“It’s really catchy,” said his classmate, Olive Kuettner. “Sometimes I don’t even know if her name is Lizzo or Blizzo.”
Lizzo shouted out the class and the school in a thank-you video she put out in February.
“Connecting history to what’s going on to the world today only makes it more relevant for the kids,” said Mack. “[It’s] hopefully [a lesson] that they’ll continue to remember as they move throughout their school career.”
