Cal Poly float earns Sweepstakes Award at Rose Parade
Jungle Jumpstart, makes its way towards Colorado Blvd in Pasadena during the Rose Parade January 1, 2026.
‘Jungle Jumpstart’ recognized for design, florals, and animation
– Cal Poly universities’ student-built float, “Jungle Jumpstart,” received the Sweepstakes Award at the 137th Rose Parade held on New Year’s Day during rainy conditions.
The Sweepstakes Award recognizes the most beautiful float overall, encompassing design, floral presentation and entertainment. The honor marked the first time in nearly eight decades of participation that the Cal Poly universities have received the award. The prize is typically awarded to larger, commercially built floats or major organizations rather than student-built entries.
“Jungle Jumpstart” was the universities’ 77th annual float and explored the 2026 Rose Parade theme, “The Magic in Teamwork,” through a rainforest story depicting animals restoring a robot.
“It’s really remarkable to win this award and celebrate it, especially on this year’s theme,” Cal Poly Rose Float President Aubrey Goings said after the awards were announced prior to the parade. “We’re really just ecstatic, especially because this year’s theme — ‘The Magic in Teamwork’ — and us winning this is really celebrating our teamwork how we get together and make everything from scratch, learning from each other.
“What sets us apart from some of the other parade floats is how we built this truly from our hearts and how we are telling our own story in the float through the animals, working together on the robot — just like us, with students from two universities and multiple disciplines working together to support each other and make something beautiful.”
The float measured 53 feet long, 25 feet high and 18 feet wide. It featured rainforest animals repairing a 40-foot robot to illustrate collaboration between nature and technology.
Cal Poly universities’ Rose Float is the only parade entry designed and built entirely by students. The project is a joint effort between students at Cal Poly and California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. The partnership dates back nearly 80 years to when the Pomona campus was a satellite of Cal Poly.
Student leaders, about 30 from each campus, met in San Luis Obispo early in 2025 to develop ideas. The concept focused on a robot in the jungle being restored by animals using their environment.
“They were excited for the story of the old, rundown robot in the jungle, and the forest animals bringing their friend back to life by incorporating what they know best — the jungle,” said Goings, a fourth-year architectural major and four-time parade veteran.
The final concept was submitted by Zander DeRenard, a mechanical engineering senior at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona and a two-year member of the team.
The float illustrated teamwork through animated scenes. A robot emerged from jungle undergrowth as wires sparked and its eyes blinked to life. Lemurs worked to reconnect a wire in the robot’s leg, while a jaguar perched nearby chewing a vine. A tree frog positioned a wood panel on the robot’s arm as a toucan rotated its head. The robot lifted a macaw with its mechanical hand, supported by multiple cylinders moving together to raise the 1,600-pound arm, bird systems and decorations.
“We’re using a neoprene jacket over the bird in order to have smoother motion as it’s flapping wings up and down,” Goings said. “A lot of what we’ve been doing is building off 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 float incorporated electronic lighting to show energy flowing through the robot.
“We got some LED strips and put them in tubes that diffuse the light,” Goings said. “We used this throughout the robot’s body to show how the electricity is running through it and how it actually is coming alive besides just the movement of the robot.”
Students faced challenges due to the density of tropical plant materials but addressed them through collaboration with the community. The robot was decorated with blue corn grits, onion seeds and rice, accented with High Magic roses to depict rust. Jungle animals were formed using bronze chrysanthemums, cattails, orange peels and lemon peels. The lemons were grown at Cal Poly, and the oranges were harvested at the Pomona campus.
Foliage included overlapping varieties of pothos, ferns and philodendrons, with heliconias and ginger lilies adding dimension. Dry and fresh materials were combined to highlight both natural and metallic textures.
The float included hidden details. A fallen chest panel displayed the universities’ Rose Float logo, and the robot’s leg featured “CPRF 77” to mark the 77th float. The team honored Tim Okuma, a 1974 California State Polytechnic University in Pomona alumnus who died in May, by placing his name on a large fabricated flower. Okuma was a longtime supporter of the program and regularly attended Deco Week in Pasadena.
Four students operated the float during the 5-1/2-mile parade route. From the Pomona campus were driver Sean Hanna and engine operator Benjamin Phillips. From Cal Poly were driver observer Ryan Newton, a fifth-year industrial engineering and physics major from Sacramento, California, and Enzo Roberto, a computer engineering junior from Albany, California, who handled animation.
Since 1949, the universities have earned 64 Rose Parade awards. The first Cal Poly float was assembled in three months for $258 in late 1948 and received an Award of Merit on New Year’s Day 1949. In 2025, the program received the Leishman Public Spirit Award for outstanding floral presentation by a non-commercial participant.
“To our knowledge, a self-built float has ever won this award before — at least we haven’t,” Goings said.
“Every year we’re just really excited to prove ourselves and show what we can do,” Goings said. “Everyone went an extra step beyond what we’re comfortable with having a float that’s so large. We’re going to have to decorate more. We’re going to have to build more. And so by reaching these new bounds, we’re placing more complications on ourselves. But we are always excited to solve these problems to show that we can do something very spectacular and awe-inspiring.”
