Do you like roses? Do you like floats?

Whether you do or not, the Cal Poly Rose Float is coming to life soon. On Oct. 22, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will move its half of the float—the back half—to Pomona to create a unified presentation and bring the two schools’ teams together.

This year’s entry is themed “TO THE RESCUE!”—a motif submitted by a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student and Rose Float alumni, Kelsey Chistoffels, and narrowed down from more than 100 other concept suggestions. Brandon Schmiedeberg, another Rose Float and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo alumnus, drew the float’s official rendering.

The parade’s theme is “Just Imagine,” and the Cal Polys’ float plays on that by bringing a comic book to life—or a parade float’s approximation of life. Three superheroes will work to save a city from “a falling building, an out of control helicopter, and a train that almost plummets off the edge of the float.”

The heroes boast powers of elasticity, strength, and flight. Ka-pow!

From a technical standpoint, a 30-foot-tall skyscraper on the float will have to collapse as necessary while traveling. That San Luis Obispo-based element will be decorated with silver dollar eucalyptus leaves.

An early report about the float’s construction noted that the team planned to use a “stunning variety of organic materials, including strawberries, coconut, roses, potatoes … snapdragons, and lilies.”

Also, cat litter.

Other design features include a real pond with a waterfall.

The annual Tournament of Roses Parade will take this float down Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard on Jan. 2, 2012.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona have produced the only student-built float in the Tournament of Roses Parade, and have been doing so since 1949.

Moving on from flora to fauna, Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences announced that it’s opening the doors of the new J and G Lau Meat Processing Center and teaching facility to public tours from 2 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 22.

If watching brightly colored petals on parade isn’t your thing, perhaps you’d like to get a glimpse of the nearly 15,000-square-foot, $6.5 million plant where students will learn about “humane harvest, fabrication, innovative ready-to-eat product development, food safety, and packaging.”

According to a press release from the school, “The meat processing center will also serve as a site for industry research and product development, enabling Cal Poly students and faculty to collaborate with industry on leading-edge practices. The facility encompasses meat and poultry harvest labs, a fabrication lab, processing center, food safety lab, thermal processing kitchen, and a ready-to-eat packaging lab.”

Executive Editor Ryan Miller compiled this week’s Cougars and Mustangs. Send your collegiate news to [email protected].