Framingham Elementary School Packed With Team Spirit For Bruins

FRAMINGHAM, MA — One Framingham elementary school has enough team spirit for the entire Bay State — but is it enough to carry the Boston Bruins to victory in the Stanley Cup? They sure hope so. Potter Road Elementary school started a friendly wager with a rival St. Louis elementary school centered on the big game. The winner gets bragging rights and the loser, has to wear the winning teams colors to school the next day.

If some of this sounds familiar, that's because this isn't the first friendly wager Potter Road has started — or the second — but it will be the last, for this year at least. Principal Larry Wolpe started this series of friendly wagers in January in anticipation of the Superbowl. "My wife actually gave me the idea," Wolpe said. His wife grew up in Kansas City and when the Patriots were set to play the Chiefs, he decided to reach out to her old elementary school and set up a friendly wager with the principal.

After winning that wager, Wolpe said the Superbowl game against the Los Angeles Rams was the perfect chance to keep the momentum going with another wager with a school in California. Potter Road won both wagers (Go Pats!) and once football season came to a close, most students and teachers put away their face paint and jerseys. That is, until the Bruins made their way to Stanley Cup Finals.

"I contacted another principal in St. Louis and I think she may be the most enthusiastic person I've contacted about this — she's all in," Wolpe said. Potter Road's wager is with McKelvey Elementary School in St. Louis and, per tradition, the Twitter banter is exploding. Potter Road's twitter feed is full of photos showing students decked out in gold and black and Wolpe himself in full facepaint, calling out McKelvey Elementary.

McKelvey isn't holding back either, bringing in the St. Louis Blues mascot to an assembly to boost school spirit. Wolpe said he was amazed they were able to get the mascot in the school and said Potter Road tried a minor social media campaign to get some Bruins "blades" in the school. "They haven't answered us yet, but that doesn't mean they won't, stranger things have happened," Wolpe said.

Overall, Wolpe said the wagers get kids excited to come to school and has heard from parents that kids are more enthusiastic about classes knowing they'll be in team colors. "With each wager we see more involvement, more face paint," he said, "I had a parent make signs for this wager — I didn't even ask they were just at my front door."

With the school year winding down and the weather getting nicer out, it can be hard to keep kids focused on the classroom, but Wolpe said the teachers have done a great job of keeping kids focused and on task while having fun. "The teachers are great, wearing the team colors and participating," he said, "I think this wager kind of capitalizes on the energy that is already around at this time of year."

Students will have to wait until next week to see if they can keep their title as wager winners and go three for three after the Stanley Cup. In the meantime, they'll keep piling on the face paint.