COEUR d'ALENE — Winton Elementary School rode a wave of blue on Wednesday afternoon.

Students cheered and howled as Tyler Alvarado, president of Winton Elementary School Parent Teacher Association, led the school in a floss dance competition.

“It was so much fun,” third-grader Ben Frantz said.

Even while competing against each other, the school was united in spirit, celebrating their new blue beanies which included a rebranding of the Winton Wolves logo. The beanies were donated by the PTA.

Alvarado said spirit apparel is typically sold by the PTA, but they realized many families at the school couldn’t afford it. To help, Alvarado said they wanted to be able to give every student at least one spirit item they didn’t have to pay for to wear on Spirit Day Fridays. That way, no child would be left out.

“It’s really important for us to just love on these kids, meet them where they’re at, help out where we can,” Alvarado said. “We really like the opportunity to bless these students and teachers.”

Alvarado said they chose beanies because they wanted to make sure it was a functional item, as some kids didn’t have coats or had winter items that were too small.

Ben said he plans to wear his beanie often.

“I love it,” Ben said. “I like the new logo. I want to share with people about Winton.”

“My class was over-the-moon excited,” said kindergarten teacher Danielle Henriquez.

Henriquez said the kindergartners were especially excited because it was their first real school branding apparel.

“They were excited to have a tie-in, like ‘I am a Winton Wolf,” kindergarten teacher Sarah Devlin said.

Matthew McArdle, a graphic designer in Coeur d’Alene, donated his time to create the new logo and design.

McArdle said he and his wife are pregnant with their first child, and he saw this as a chance to get involved in the community they plan to grow with.

“This was a really good opportunity for me to volunteer my time,” McArdle said. “This is kind of the community I’ve been wanting to pour into for the foreseeable future.”

Alvarado said they wanted to be sure every child has the opportunity to participate and take pride in their school.

“This is the next generation of leaders in our community,” Alvarado said. “As leaders in this community, we have an obligation to invest and so into our youth and to take control of what the future looks like for our Coeur d’Alene community.”

The PTA board is made up of four members including Alvarado, CEO of Continuous Composites; vice president Chad Oakland, Realtor at Northwest Realty Group; secretary Erica Penn, a stay-at-home mom; and business manager Molly Mazzuca of Verdis.

So far the PTA has raised about $20,000 this year to support the school, some of which went to purchase the spirit beanies.

“Our kind of tagline is ‘Community is our superpower,’” Penn said. “We just see that as a way to build that here in the school and with the teachers.”

Last month the PTA approved $9,000 for school items, most of which were one-time costs.

The music program received $3,100 to purchase ukuleles. In addition, the PTA purchased an intricate rewarding system for the strings program, flexible seating for the kindergarten classes as well as creative writing games and tools, a printer and ‘figdet’ supplies for the special education program. The PTA also funded a teacher appreciation account, the spelling bee registration and prizes, covered Math is Cool competition fees, purchased headphones for fifth-graders and aquarium tanks for the third-grade classroom, and more.

Alvarado said they're hoping to raise another $20,000 this spring and are hoping to put in a second play structure to separate the younger grade levels.

The PTA is also asking adults who are good role models to show up at the school during lunch and recess, after a background check, to interact with the kids, play with them, correct any actions or comments and help the teachers by being positive role models.

“We’re really trying to make moves to support this school,” Alvarado said. “We have a big vision and mission.”