BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — No. 87 turned 34 years old on Thursday, and if you haven’t noticed Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has a lot to celebrate this year.
Most recently, his high-profile crossover with Taylor Swift fans has Chiefs Kingdom analyzing his relationship with the popstar.
The hype is even hitting some classrooms like those at Chapel Lakes Elementary School in the Blue Springs School District.
A lot of people may remember school spirit days like “Pajama Day” or “Throwback/Decades Day.” But at Chapel Lakes Elementary, they had a different idea, leveraging Kansas City’s current pop culture power.
In the classrooms, a popstar influences lesson plans. In the halls, it’s easy to spot a specific jersey.
“I scare my mom and dad around with this mask around the house,” said fourth-grader Jonah Turnbow, wearing a Travis Kelce mask. “And I just thought this is the perfect day to wear it.”
“Today is Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift day,” fifth-grader Claire McDonald said.
“Ninety-nine percent of her songs are love songs,” McDonald said. “When they hear that she’s dating someone new, they’re obviously like ‘gasp.'”
Thursday’s “T and T Day,” as they’re calling it, is a part of the PTA’s annual “Cash for Cats” fundraiser, which supports events throughout the year. (The school mascot is a cheetah.)
“This morning, like right before I got here, we were at $18,013,” said Hannah Francis, PTA treasurer for Chapel Lakes Elementary School.
“My boys are huge Chiefs fans. They actually fought over who got to wear the Travis Kelce jersey today,” Francis said.
“A lot of them are saying that they like it cause a lot of them went to the concert,” fifth-grade teacher Teresa Toarmina said. “So they’re super big Taylor Swift fans, and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re in our Travis Kelce era,’ is what they say.”
“I watched the Chiefs games pretty regularly last year,” McDonald said. “I just think I pay a little more attention now to it because it’s going to be interesting to see how this turns out.”
“It could go both ways,” Turnbow added. “Like, if they break up then Travis can retire immediately, probably. But if they like stay together for a year or so, Travis is easily going to be — not that he’s not — the best tight end in history.”
Teachers also said it’s interesting to watch two different fan bases interact with each other as a result of the connection.
“There are people who are just like not super into Taylor’s music,” Toarmina said. “And then people that don’t really watch much football. But nothing like ‘You can’t have her’ or ‘You can’t have him.’ Like all those things.”
“They watch most of Taylor’s … or the Chiefs games on TV,” McDonald said, correcting herself. “And a lot of the time they’ll say, ‘Gasp, there she is,’ because my family are big Taylor Swift fans.”
“Travis is definitely more famous. I mean, yeah,” Turnbow said. “Personally, I don’t really have like a lot of knowledge. Like, I don’t know how… How is Taylor Swift connected with 13? I have no idea.”
The spirit day was a school-wide event. A few students said they re-used their outfits from the Taylor Swift concert in Kansas City this summer.