Blooming In Nashville HSMT Magazine - Magazine - Page 27
fourth-year architectural major and fourtime parade veteran.
backgrounds and are learning and teaching each other how to
do these 昀氀oat tasks — and all of this collaboration is who we are.”
The winning concept was submitted by
Zander DeRenard, a Cal Poly Pomona
mechanical engineering senior and twoyear veteran of the team.
Each year Cal Poly Rose Float students work together to grow
their skills and innovate by 昀椀ne-tuning past 昀氀oat successes.
“Jungle Jumpstart” conveys these ambitions through its story
and animations.
The Horticultural Society of Middle
Tennessee board member, Liane Dunn,
Co-Chair of the Branching Out Patrons
Party, and a 昀氀ora designer, was a volunteer
on the winning 昀氀oat. Lianne went to hear
Roger Dennis, a member of the American
Institute of Floral Designers, a Clinical
Assistant Professor of Horticulture in
the WKU Department of Agriculture and
Food Science, and Director of the WKU
Floral Design and Training Center, who
works as a 昀氀oral advisor and designer for
the 昀氀oat.
The 昀氀oat is also populated with birds, mammals and reptiles. A
colorful toucan at the top of “Jungle Jumpstart” turns its head
side to side to supervise the team restoring its robot friend.
After his CEU presentation to a group of
昀氀orists last fall, Roger shared with Liane
that he volunteers every year for the Rose
Bowl parade by advising the team of
students who design the 昀氀oats. He said
they were welcome to join him to be part
of the team with the students. The rest is
history!
To lift the bird to the sky, multiple cylinders move in harmony to
support the 1,600-pound weight of the robot’s arm, macaw’s
systems and decorations.
Students were inspired to build a 昀氀oat set
in a tropical environment using a di昀昀erent
palette of 昀氀ora and fauna than in past
years to incorporate in the design.
Wires spark as a robot slumbering in a dense, jungle undergrowth
blinks back to life, lifting its head to observe its new surroundings.
Two ring-tailed lemurs work to reconnect a broken wire in the
robot’s leg, while a sleepy jaguar perches on the other, chewing a
vine, tail dancing blissfully. A tree frog positions a wood panel on
the robot’s right arm, as the supervising toucan rotates its head,
carefully inspecting the progress. The restored robot’s eyes,
made of 2-foot digital screens, stare at a brightly colored macaw
held in its mechanical hand, lifting the bird as it readies to 昀氀y.
“We’re using a neoprene jacket over the bird in order to have
smoother motion as it’s 昀氀apping wings up and down,” said
Goings, a San Jose, California, resident. “A lot of what we’ve
been doing is building o昀昀 what we’ve learned in the last few years.
We’re advancing our concealment department that focuses on
creating smoother visual looks between a moving element and
the decorations that go on top.”
The 2026 Rose Parade theme resonated
with the leadership team and the story
that “Jungle Jumpstart” shares.
The Cal Poly universities’ 昀氀oat annually
demonstrates that by working together on
outcomes “much richer than we can ever
experience as individuals,” explained
Mark Leavens, this year’s Tournament of
Roses president.
“We really felt that spoke to us on a
personal level,” Goings added. “We work
across 250 miles and two campuses to
create something spectacular. All of our
students come from so many di昀昀erent
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