Turning Out Roses

When the first rose float built by California Polytechnic students appeared on New Year’s Day in 1949, it was put together by a team from Cal Poly’s then-satellite campus in Pomona, Calif. operating with a budget of $258.

Since then, the two schools have teamed up to create 67 floats with themes ranging from “Galactic Expedition” to “Guardians of Harmony.” When this year’s float, titled “Sweet Shenanigans,” rolls down the 5.5 mile route in Pasadena next month, hundreds of students from both schools will join the millions of television viewers to watch the parade’s only entry designed and constructed entirely by full-time students.