Thousands went blue once again for Team BCPS Day

TOWSON – Everywhere you turned on Team BCPS Day, Jan. 12, all you could see was blue – blue clothes, blue books, blue hair, pets wearing blue, buildings bathed in blue…

Team BCPS Day is Baltimore County Public Schools’ annual celebration of pride, unity, impact, and all-around awesomeness. Team BCPS stakeholders were asked to photograph themselves wearing blue and to send those photos or post them on social media. This year it yielded almost 600 tweets, reaching 197,203 unique viewers, and #BCPSBlue trended twice – in the mid-morning and late afternoon.

The community fully embraced Team BCPS Day. Schools expressed their positive feelings using artwork, writing, and fun music videos. The spirit of the day was incorporated into lessons about Picasso, teamwork, and values. Families posed in blue before leaving for work and school. Business and educational partners – including American College of Education, the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), Daly Computers, First Financial Federal Credit Union, GWWO Architects, and Zest Social Media Solutions – boosted BCPS. In addition, the Baltimore County Public Library participated in a major way, sending photos of its leadership team as well as photos of staff from the Arbutus, Catonsville, Cockeysville, North Point, Owings Mills, Parkville, Pikesville,Randallstown, Rosedale, White Marsh, and Woodlawn branches.

“In just a few short years, Team BCPS Day has become a much-anticipated tradition,” said Superintendent Dr. S. Dallas Dance. “It’s a great way to launch the second half of the school year and to celebrate our accomplishments, our unity, and our connections to the community. We deeply appreciate our stakeholders’ participation and the pride they demonstrate in being part of Team BCPS.”

Here are this year’s honorees for best BCPS blue-themed images of the day:

Overwhelmingly Adorable All the children of Baltimore County Public Schools (We can’t pick!)

Best use of logo

Happiest school bus moment

  • From the Casserlys (Rebecca Casserly, a Cromwell Valley Elementary teacher, putting her son on the bus to Mays Chapel Elementary)

Best staff group

Best legacy alumni who work for BCPS)

Best nonhuman Team BCPS members

Best lesson about teamwork

Best custom-decorated frame

Best staff video

Best hearts

Best emojis

Best college spirit

  • UCLA (Jill Snell, S.T.A.T. teacher, Rodgers Forge Elementary, and Jen Piet, resource teacher, Organizational Development)

Best onesie

Best blue suede shoes

Best BCPS formation

Most far-flung

  • From Loch Raven HS to Abu Dhabi (A photo of Jodi Gratman, former social studies chair at Loch Raven High, now teaching in Abu Dhabi – 7,005 miles away)

Most bespoke

Best hair

Best music video

Best blue glow

Best headpieces

Best tees

Best appreciation of blue crabs

Best superheroes

Best faux fur

  • Franklin ES (Grade 1 student Conor McGeehan with grandmother and volunteer Arlene Bloom)

Best wordplay

Future Team BCPS members

Best mascot

Best dab

Best use of drone

Best celebrity cameo

Best hipster plaid

Largest group

Smurfiest

Newest member of Team BCPS

  • Future BCPS students (the sons of Jamie Bakert, of Microsoft, a member of the Education Foundation’s Board of Directors)

Best art re-enactment

Best service to the community

Best jewelry

Best multilingual spirit

Most literary

Separated at birth? Best twins

Best tutu

  • Woodbridge (Alexis Mileto and students, Woodbridge Elementary)

Best embodiment of Team BCPS

In addition, secondary schools’ participation in Team BCPS Day is on the rise. Much appreciation to the following schools:

Middle Schools

Arbutus, Catonsville, Dumbarton, Franklin, Holabird, Loch Raven Academy, Middle River, Northwest Academy of Health Sciences, Perry Hall, Pine Grove, Ridgely, Southwest Academy, Sparrows Point, Sudbrook, and Windsor Mill

High Schools

Dundalk (girls basketball), Hereford, Kenwood (World Languages Dept.), Loch Raven, Owings Mills (Eagles), Parkville, Randallstown, Sparrows Point, and Woodlawn High

More than 500 photos and videos from the day can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcps/albums and additional resources, contributions, and information may be found at the Team BCPS web page at www.bcps.org/teambcps/.