Recent News
Cal Poly Theatre and Dance puts on two virtual shows this quarter
Mar 3, 2021
By Sophia Lincoln
The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting limitations have hit the performing arts industry pretty hard. But while other theatre and dance companies struggle to create productions using online platforms such as Zoom, Cal Poly’s theatre and dance department is using the stay-at-home order to their advantage.
Both productions this quarter, Shelter and Floor Plan, have themes that are based around the environment that many have been confined to during the pandemic: home.
Shelter
Shelter
Shelter is an original audio play written and produced entirely by its cast of Cal Poly students and faculty. Acting professor and director of the production Karin Hendricks said she came up with the initial idea of doing a play about homes as living characters at the start of the pandemic, which also happened to be during the time that she was moving houses.
“The title Shelter really is kind of play on the idea of the shelter-at-home order that went out,” Hendricks said. “We really in the show break that down and talk about what it really means to have a shelter, to have home, to have a place where you live and the relationships and experiences that happen within that.”
Theatre senior Bella Ramirez is one of the cast members in Shelter. Having performed in three live productions pre-pandemic as well as acting in Cal Poly’s virtual production of An Iliad last fall, Ramirez said that Shelter was very different than any other production she has performed in.
“It was so different than just being handed a script and being like ‘this is your character, perform it’ versus actually writing things that are so truthful to yourself and then recording those as you and putting them out into the world,” Ramirez said. “I just am very grateful that I was able to have this experience.”
Not only were cast members in charge of writing their own scripts, but each member also had to base their script on their own personal experiences. Comparing it to verbatim theatre, Hendricks said that it was somewhat inspired by personal story podcasts like The Moth.
According to Hendricks, the individual audio stories that will come together to create Shelter range from poems and monologues told from the point of view of household appliances to stories about what home means to individual actors.
“We developed this piece from nothing except for of course the experiences of the actors,” Hendricks said.
Now that all of the actors’ audio stories have been recorded, the sound design team is working to put it all together adding sound effects and composing original music, Hendricks said.
Additionally, since Shelter is an audio play, the costume team and scenic design team had to get creative with how to contribute.
According to Hendricks, the scenic design team has created 20 unique art installations which will be distributed around downtown San Luis Obispo. Each installation is a plexiglass box displaying different aspects of the show. On each box, there is also a QR code that links to the Shelter webpage, as well as a map showing where the other 19 boxes are located.
Hendricks also said that the costume design team is creating a larger piece of art as well as a quilt-style dress with each quilt square representing a different story from the play.
“It’s kind of interesting that constraint has led to this creativity of stuff that we’ve never done before but that I think is going to be really, really exciting for our community and for everybody who decides to engage,” Hendricks said.
Floor Plan
Floor Plan
Consistent with the theme of home, Floor Plan features an imagined house, which in reality is made up of different rooms in the various different houses of the dancers. According to dance professor Christy Chand, the idea was conceived as a result of social distancing limitations and the necessity for dancers to remain in their own homes.
“I wanted to think more about how could dance embrace this space that we’re all stuck in right now,” Chand said.
According to Chand, in order to create the imagined house in Floor Plan, Cal Poly architecture alumnus Evan Ricaurté designed an actual, physical floor plan of a house. Then, individual dancers were assigned to different types of rooms (one to a kitchen, one to a backyard and so on), which they filmed in their own houses and apartments. Finally, Ricaurte and others worked to put all of the individual clips of the dancers in varying rooms in their respective living spaces together, adding hallway transitions and editing them to make it appear as though they are all part of one floor plan.
“We also made it a true house,” Chand said. “It’s not like an eight-bedroom, one bath house. It’s a two-bedroom, two bath, there’s hallways, there’s a garage, there’s a driveway, there’s closets there’s a kitchen – you know, all of the things that you would normally have in a house. It’s just that there’s going to be a dance happening in every single one of those spaces.”
English senior and dance minor Brianna Barnes is one of the dancers as well as one of the choreographers for Floor Plan. Barnes said that something she enjoyed most about this process was the one-on-one time that choreographers and dancers were able to spend together.
“Instead of having like ten group pieces or so, everyone has a solo,” Barnes said. “That’s been really cool as a choreographer and a dancer to work one-on-one and really tailor our pieces to the people that are going to be performing them.”
Chand said that while she and Orchesis would rather perform live on a stage as they typically would, she is still very excited about about what they were able to come up with.
“We’re not expert dance filmmakers, we’re just trying to do something with what we have,” Chand said. “We’re trying to make the most of it and still have it be something that is artistically fulfilling for everyone involved and I think that we have done that.”
Both productions will be made available online through the Performing Arts Center website and are free to all, though donations may also be made via the website. Shelter can be accessed on the PAC website from March 6 through March 13, after which it will still be available on the Theatre and Dance website. Floor Plan can be accessed on the PAC website from March 13 through March 20, after which it will also be available on the Theatre and Dance website.
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Journalism Senior Project Turns into Philanthropic Organization Helping Provide Bicycles to Kenyan Orphans
Feb 17, 2021
By Sophia Lincoln
Everjourney Photo by Luke Bender, SLO local
For his senior project in 2018, Cal Poly journalism alumnus and avid cyclist Sean Bird created Everjourney. Initially just a creative outlet to merge his major with his favorite pastime, throughout Bird’s collegiate experience, Everjourney grew from a casual blog to his senior project and ultimately, to a full-fledged philanthropic organization.
In addition to being a blog, now Everjourney also functions as an online shop where users can purchase Everjourney’s custom apparel including bike jerseys and shorts, stickers, hats and more. According to Bird, all of the profits from apparel sales are donated to One Bicycle Foundation, a non-profit organization that purchases and provides bicycles to an orphanage in Kenya, as well as to youth in other developing nations.
One Bicycle Foundation, formerly Bikes 4 Orphans, was co-founded by a former high school classmate of Bird, he said. According to their website, One Bicycle Foundation’s mission is to “change lives through bicycle empowerment”, as bicycles can provide transportation and access to education, jobs and more to those in regions where lack of access can lead to a continuous cycle of poverty.
“I was looking for an outlet, with sales from t-shirts, hats, socks, water bottles, to take those profits – whether it was a small amount, $100, or something that could be much larger – and just give it to an organization that could do a much greater good with that money considering that I didn’t have the largest need for it,” Bird said. “I was just looking for a way to give back to the cycling industry and other youth around the world.”
Everjourney also sells cycling kits, though those sales go to the organization itself in order to help fund manufacturing of merchandise and other costs of running the organization. Bird also holds a full-time job with Canyon Bicycles U.S.A., where he works in project management and business intelligence.
Since Everjourney has always been a supplemental creative endeavor for Bird, as opposed to a full-time occupation, Bird said that the amount of time and energy he spends on it varies depending on how busy he is at different times.
“It has continued to be a platform that just has a standard baseline in terms of new products coming in [and] the interest in focusing on that creative outlook to create new products,” Bird said.
According to Bird, his education at Cal Poly is part of what has allowed him to grow Everjourney as an organization.
“It has certainly been eye-opening to me that regardless of the type of business that anyone goes into, there is always a need for great communicators, which is something that I am grateful to have learned quite a bit about during my time at Cal Poly,” Bird said.
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Psychology Alumnus William Thompson Co-Founds Business to Help People with Parkinson’s Disease
Feb 16, 2021
By Sophia Lincoln
William Thompson
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2012, Cal Poly Liberal Arts alumnus William Thompson returned to campus to pursue a master’s degree in business administration. During his graduate education, Thompson found his calling when he was introduced to De Oro Devices, a biomedical startup founded by Cal Poly biomedical engineering alumna Sidney Collin.
According to Thompson, Collin originally created the company as a project within Cal Poly’s Quality of Life Plus Student Association (QL+). After graduating and receiving local support for the startup, she decided to recruit help by presenting her product to a Cal Poly graduate entrepreneurship class that Thompson happened to be in.
The particular product that Collin designed, called NexStride, is a mobility device aimed to assist people with Parkinson’s Disease who may experience festination, or “freezing of gait”, a motor deficit symptom of the disease that inhibits one from walking.
NexStride Device
The device is designed to attach to its user’s cane, walker or walking pole. It allows the user to activate the audio cue, visual cue or both and adjust it to their preferred speed and distance so that they are able to “press on” through the freezing of gait, according to the website.
In hearing about the product in his entrepreneurship class, the company’s mission resonated with Thompson, he said, as it reminded him of the emerging technologies that have helped his mother handle her diabetes.
“Seeing what a technology or what a device can do to make [someone like his mother’s] life easier and better – it was really that idea that is what resonated with me,” Thompson said.
After getting in touch with Collin, Thompson was able to help grow the business using his business administration education and ultimately became the co-founder of De Oro Devices.
“We basically hit the ground running,” Thompson said. “I brought the business side of things, whereas [Collin] was the engineer and had a great vision for what the product should be, how to design a product, how to make a product, how to get it manufactured, that sort of thing.”
Collin and Thompson also took advantage of Cal Poly’s HotHouse Startup Accelerator program where they were given access to mentorship, workshops and funding for their new business. After presenting their startup at the Cal Poly program’s “Demo Day”, they were also able to acquire donations and investors and by the fall of 2018, they officially founded the company.
After spending some time on product development, the company launched in the spring of 2020 and has taken off since. De Oro Devices also received some recognition in 2019 when the company won the BIOMEDevice San Jose 2019 Startup Showcase Pitch Competition.
According to Thompson, the product has been manufactured in California and they are also planning to move to Texas. Additionally, De Oro Devices is now an approved vendor through the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and they are currently pursuing research opportunities in stroke rehabilitation as well as establishing partnerships with partner foundations and groups.
While he was originally introduced to NexStride during his graduate education in business administration, Thompson said that his undergraduate education in psychology was also very useful in growing his business.
“I definitely attribute a lot of my career growth to my background in psychology,” Thompson said. “Having a foundation in psychology has really given me a lot of people skills, it has taught me how to listen, it has taught me people better which really lends itself to anything.” .
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CLA Hosts Fifth Annual Social Justice Teach In On February 11
Feb 10, 2021
BY ROBYN KONTRA TANNER
Black and Indigenous futurity. Unruly women. Activist art. Disability allyship. Multiple minority stress among trans people of color.
These are just a few of the topics the campus community, graduates and Central Coast neighbors can explore during Cal Poly’s Social Justice Teach In on Thursday, February 11.
Hosted by the College of Liberal Arts, the free, daylong event is made up of dozens of virtual talks and workshops centered around equity and social justice led by faculty, staff and students from across campus. This year’s virtual format builds on previous years of community outreach by welcoming more local residents and Cal Poly alumni to join the conversations.
The event’s founders say that the growing slate of presentations and audience members fulfills the original vision for the Teach In.
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“It is a quintessential representation of the best of what the academy can do and what higher ed is called to do,” says Denise Isom, chair of the Ethnic Studies Department, Interim Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, and Chief Diversity Officer. “To use scholarship, passion, research to have analytical, engaged discussions about this moment in the world, and then move that conversation to, ‘What then do we want to do about it?’”
Nearly 50 sessions make up this year’s slate of programming — the widest range of presentations in the event’s five-year history — representing the breadth of the university’s equity-focused scholarship. Everything from climate change to homelessness, social justice in engineering and diversity in construction industries are covered in Teach In events.
This year’s keynote session features Dr. Andrew Jolivétte, professor and chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at UC San Diego. His presentation, “Black Lives, Indigenous Lives: From Mattering to Thriving,” will examine the cultural and historic convergence of Black and Indigenous communities and explore how contemporary movements, including Black Lives Matter and Idle No More, ignite progress toward kinship, self-determination and joy.
This year’s event features four tracks for attendees who want to explore specific themes like racism, media and technology from different angles and get to know the depth of Cal Poly expertise in certain areas. One track focusing on public health inequities is particularly timely considering how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the health of different communities.
“COVID has revealed a lot of inequities I think that we knew existed, but it's brought them to light in a new way,” says Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti, associate dean for Diversity and Curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts and one of the event’s organizers. “There are quite a few faculty who study that particular topic at Cal Poly, and so to have their expertise brought to this stage, I think is really, really exciting.”
Cal Poly faculty who recently joined the university through its cluster hiring programs are slated to lead several sessions. These educators focus their teaching and research on diversity and inclusion in their field, and their impact on campus continues to grow.
“I think that that really speaks to some of the efforts that the university has been working toward as a whole to bring expertise to us,” says Teramoto Pedrotti of the cluster hire effort. “That expertise is now coming back to us in wonderful ways.”
Central Coast residents might take particular interest in several sessions that focus on the broader local community’s well-being, including “The City of SLO's Diversity Taskforce: Town/Gown Joint Diversity Efforts,” “Restrictions Apply: a short documentary on racism and the Happiest City in North America,” and “Introducing ‘Mi Gente, Nuestra Salud:’ A People’s Movement for Health in Santa Maria, CA.” Those sessions are presented in partnership with community organizations and local leaders.
A few presenters have also nimbly adapted their sessions to tackle current events that continue to shape the national conversation on social justice, including one session titled, “Georgia Elections, The Riot, and Race: An Exam of the Events of January 6, 2021,” presented by Isom and two other Cal Poly faculty members.
“We are in a moment of movements,” says Isom, “but it’s also part of what teach ins were always about — it was education to action.”
Organizers also developed a discussion guide and reflection questions to deepen the conversations attendees have after the sessions, especially as community members and groups of Cal Poly colleagues attend together. The tools are aimed at helping attendees and presenters reach beyond the formal instruction model to learn together and to think about how to make change in their own organizations.
“It represents the opportunity for community building and co-learning,” says Kari Mansager, one of the Teach In’s founders and Cal Poly’s Interim Director of Wellbeing. She feels the event encourages all students, faculty, staff and community to lead and learn alongside one another. “The event has an ability to address really important and hard topics around social justice and equity, but in a way that really capitalizes on our power on a college campus.”
The Teach In held its first sessions in 2017, and several of its founders see some parallels to this year. At that time, the nation had just experienced a divisive election and saw new activist movements organize across the country.
“I think part of what we were hoping to do with the Teach In wasn't just to inform and to bring people together to critically engage the moment,” Isom says, recalling the inaugural event. “It was also to be a time of gathering so that there would be healing, that people would not feel alone, that people would feel empowered to face the moment, and that they would see that as part of their academic, professional and personal growth.”
Since that first event, the Teach In has grown exponentially from a small series of discussions originally focused in one college to a hallmark of winter quarter and an ever-evolving display of the social justice expertise rooted in Cal Poly’s programs. Organizers are already optimistic about an even bigger event next year when more Mustangs are hopefully able to learn and work on campus.
But no matter the format, organizers hope to preserve a space where people can slow down, focus and reflect.
“The Teach In is a day where many people across campus just stop for a minute and focus with intentionality on these topics,” says Teramoto Pedrotti. “We feel like it's such a day of inspiration and solidarity.
“If we just stop for a second and take the time to learn about each other and learn about experiences that are different from our own, particularly at this time in our nation, it’s something that I'm really happy to see.”
Teach In sessions are free and open to all. Registration is required for each session. See a full schedule and register at cla.calpoly.edu/teach-in.
Story originally appeared in Cal Poly News
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Founding Dean of Cal Poly School of Communicative Arts and Humanities Jon Ericson Dies at 92
Feb 10, 2021
Jon Ericson
Former Cal Poly dean Jon Ericson passed away in his home in Pacific Grove, California on Tuesday, January 19 after a lifelong career in education.
In addition to teaching at Stanford University and Central Washington State University in Ellensburg, Ericson founded Cal Poly’s School of Communicative Arts and Humanities (now the College of Liberal Arts) and became its founding dean in 1970.
According to a press release, Ericson is remembered for bringing new inter-disciplinary approaches to a campus focused on agriculture, engineering and other highly technical fields.
“As the founding Dean of a new school, the most important work that could be done was to build a solid foundation to accomplish the work appropriate to a Liberal Arts school in a polytechnic university,” Ericson is quoted in the release.
Ericson is also known for pioneering study abroad programs at Cal Poly, according to the release. Ericson allegedly emphasized low cost and inclusivity for the programs, which at the time were only offered to a select few who could afford it.
In addition to helping make the London Study Program available to Cal Poly students, Ericson also launched English language programs for Japanese university students and organized various cultural events on campus including a symposium devoted to Leonardo Davinci and various musical performances.
Ericson taught speech at Cal Poly during his last two years before retiring in 1996. Ericson is survived by his spouse Amy Ericson, his two daughters, Beth and Ingrid Ericson and his son Joel Ericson. His first son Jon Robert Ericson died in 1992.
Dr. Ericson and his wife established the Jon M. Ericson Founders Endowment for the London Study Program in 2000 to provide scholarships for qualified students with financial need to attend the program.
Please join us in commemorating Dean Ericson’s legacy by contributing to the Jon M. Ericson Founders Endowment for the Cal Poly in London Program. Donations can be provided through this link: https://securelb.imodules.com/s/699/bp19/interior.aspx?sid=699&gid=1&pgid=961&cid=2272&bledit=1&dids=654.
Spanish classes participate in virtual exchange with Argentine students
Jan 28, 2021
By Sophia Lincoln
Universidad Nacional de San Martin
Though she typically spends summers leading a Cal Poly abroad program in Spain, this year world languages and cultures professor Silvia Marijuan decided to give her Spanish language students an entirely different experience with students from her own country of origin: Argentina.
“I think it is very important for students to have a broad international perspective that includes not only a European perspective, but also the perspective of a student from Latin America,” Marijuan said.
According to Marijuan, these two perspectives are quite different especially considering the dictatorships and economic crises that Argentina faced just a few decades ago.
“Argentina is a very interesting country because people there have gone through a lot,” Marijuan said.
Originally from Buenos Aires, Marijuan used to teach at the Universidad Nacional de San Martin (UNSAM). After collaborating with her previous colleagues there, Marijuan was able to put together a virtual global engagement program for her Introduction to Spanish Linguistics class.
According to Marijuan, the program went on for six weeks during Fall Quarter 2020 and required her students to interact with an assigned partner from UNSAM for one hour per week.
Diana Beas is one of Marijuan’s students who was able to participate in the exchange. Beas said that the virtual experience enhanced her learning of the class’ subjects and allowed her to make international connections that she wouldn’t have made otherwise.
“It was a lot of fun meeting someone from a different country,” Beas said. “You get to learn a lot about their culture, their lifestyle, the slang words they use and so much more all while learning about topics related to your class.”
Marijuan said that these friendships her students were able to make with the students at UNSAM is one of the unique benefits of a virtual exchange.
“Sometimes what happens is students go abroad and make really good friends within their groups but not necessarily with the locals there,” Marijuan said.
Marijuan also said that she assigned partners based on similar interests, including majors of study.
“I think the experience was really enriching not only for [Cal Poly] students, but also for the students in Argentina because they were able to discover a lot of things that they never really thought about,” Marijuan said.
Marijuan also plans to write a research paper about the virtual exchange experience to share her and her students’ experiences with other second language educators. She also hopes that these types of virtual programs will become more widespread.
“I think it is very important to offer these opportunities to all students because not every student can afford to go abroad,” Marijuan said. “It’s important to have these kinds of experiences embedded in different classes to offer students internationalization experiences.”
Marijuan said she has received positive feedback from many of her students.
“I was so happy,” Marijaun said. “To see all of the connections was really important to me to build this community.”
Funding for this virtual exchange was provided by the College of Liberal Art's Global Engagement Grant.
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Jazz Ensemble Releases Album
Jan 21, 2021
Cal Poly Jazz Album
Spring quarter's virtual jazz rehearsals culminated in the soon-to-be released album titled "Another time, another place."
The album was organized by Director of Jazz Studies Arthur White, who released his first solo album during the summer.
"Cal Poly’s philosophy is also its pedagogical model: Learn by Doing. Little did we in the jazz program know that we would be doing that in an extreme and unprecedented fashion,” White said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the double album ended up being recorded by students in their own homes, according to White.
Computer science junior Ethan Zimbelman was one of these students.
“This album really came together once the pandemic started picking up and we were left without a place to rehearse or perform,” Zimbelman wrote in an email. “Dr. White realized that if we weren't able to perform a concert together, we could record an album from our homes!”
According to Zimbelman, students recorded their individual parts and solos on their own and White was then in charge of putting it all together.
“It was up to us as individuals to practice our parts and get our recordings in to Dr. White and make corrections as needed,” Zimbelman said.
The band also met once weekly over Zoom to rehearse.
According to White, guest artists like Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker and saxophonist Ada Rovatti were also featured on the album.
The album will be available through digital platforms including iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. All proceeds from the sale of the album will assist the Cal Poly Jazz Studies Program with recruiting, guest clinicians and artists, recordings and tours in the future.
There will also be a virtual release party on February 19 at 7:30p.m., according to Zimbelman.
“The students performed beautifully,” White said. “They did all of this work while transitioning to complete virtual learning, moving away from campus, and enduring.”
According to Zimbelman, the Jazz Ensemble will continue to make music virtually, “but everybody’s really looking forward to being able to play as an ensemble again.”
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Cal Poly history students collaborate with American University at Kuwait students for history classes
Jan 21, 2021
By Sophia Lincoln
American University of Kuwait
As virtual learning started to become the new reality fall quarter, history professor Farah Al-Nakib saw an opportunity for her History 313 The Modern Middle East students.
Having previously worked at the American University of Kuwait (AUK), Al-Nakib had the idea to connect her class with an American government class at AUK so that students from both universities could learn from each other and gain a better understanding of how modern issues affect both America and Kuwait.
“[The professor at AUK and Al-Nakib] came up with this idea of doing a joint activity during election week here,” Al-Nakib said. “Instead of having actual class that week, we did a virtual exchange module where we had students from my class and [the AUK class] do the same readings... and then in their discussion groups we gave them certain activities to do together to work together to discuss.”
Al-Nakib also hopes to design a quarter-long virtual exchange course with a partner institution so that students from both schools can develop international relations and learn through global engagement.
“The feedback I have gotten so far from students is that they actually really, really love engaging with students from across the world,” Al-Nakib said. “Students are able to learn about difference, but also better appreciate the similarities and commonalities that we all share across the world.”
Victoria Duehring, Samuel Smith and Kyle Kerr are some of the students who were able to participate in the virtual module during election week.
Duehring, Smith and Kerr all said that they had very positive experiences engaging with the students from AUK and said they would recommend the virtual exchange to other students interested in the class.
“We live in a globalized world, and we should take advantage of that,” Duehring said. “Our professors come from all over the country and globe with ties to universities all over and I think we should use that.”
Similarly, Kerr said that the virtual exchange added depth to the topics they discussed.
“I loved the experience,” Kerr said. “When I had the opportunity to talk with some students over at the American University of Kuwait, it brought to life what we were learning about in the class.”
Al-Nakib also hopes that her students’ interaction with students from the Middle East will help to debunk certain misconceptions and stereotypes about them.
“I think it’s great that Cal Poly and CLA in particular is taking a really strong lead in these kinds of initiatives – both internationalization itself, but now also specifically looking at virtual exchange,” Al-Nakib said. “It's the right time because we’re definitely all becoming more comfortable and knowledgeable in virtual platforms and programs and we can really start to think about how we can use them better.”
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English Student Helps Organize Virtual Cal Poly Rose Float Parade
Jan 11, 2021
Cal Poly universities Rose Float teams got back to the business of designing a parade float despite the worldwide COVID pandemic that forced the cancellation of the 2021 Rose Parade®. English major Avi McManus is the Communications Manager for the Cal Poly Team and helped organized this year's competition.
Avi McManus
Cal Poly Universities’ Home-Brew Rose Float Competition was a virtual contest that involved planning, design and decoration ideas but no physical construction. The competition brought together teams of students from Cal Poly and California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. These universities have worked together since fall of 1948 navigating the 240 miles between campuses to produce memorable and eye-catching floats. Since then, the two schools’ Rose Float entries have earned 57 awards at the Pasadena classic and become one of the highest profile student events for both universities.
“We really were looking for ways to bring joy back to our Rose Float team and a way to interest potential new members in the team,” said Ralph Agbayani, the design chair for the 2020 Pomona Rose Float team who organized the event with Avi McManus, the communications manager for the Cal Poly team in San Luis Obispo.
“Anyone who had a team in mind, or wanted to work solo was free to do so,” said McManus a senior from Oakland, California, who is studying English. “For those who wanted a team but were not able to find one, Ralph and I matched up these participants with the others who had expressed interest in the same departments either construction, design or decoration.”
About 45 students participated, starting in October, with a dozen teams presenting during the final Dec. 12 showcase. On average, seven out of 10 students on the final teams were first-time Rose Float participants, they said.
“Ralph and I tried to simulate a real float year, so we set a ‘theme’ for the parades,” McManus said. “The theme was ‘Holidays.’ However, much like a regular parade, this was open to interpretation.”
Students from both campuses attended four online workshops to learn about the different aspects of creating a Rose Parade® float and then let loose to create their own designs with a holiday theme.
Entries included dinosaurs, a surfing Santa, a giant beer stein, Pi Day, World Book Day and the Hindu holiday of Holi, which commemorates the start of spring after a long winter, symbolic of triumph of good over evil.
“Strength in Numbers,” which celebrated March 14 Pi Day, received the Sweepstakes Award for best overall team entry. On the float, a colony of ants and other insects have taken over a picnic. A queen ant draped in a picnic blanket cape and monarch butterflies stand poised at the front of the float, while a classic raspberry pie rises above the float at the back.
The “Strength in Numbers” team was made up of Cal Poly’s D’Angelo Reyes, a senior from San Francisco majoring in computer engineering; Paige Brunson of UCLA; Jessica Goldberg of Purdue University; and Cal Poly Pomona’s Mike Sturman.
“I enjoy themed entertainment, so being able to design a parade float fits nicely into my career goal of designing theme parks,” said Sturman, a sophomore majoring in construction engineering and management.
Now a design lead for the Pomona Rose Float team, Sturman started as a volunteer last year, welding and shaping elements for “Aquatic Aspirations,” which received the Director Award for the most outstanding artistic design and use of floral and non-floral materials at the 2020 Rose Parade®. He also worked on a mechanism to make fish swim in and out of a sunken ship.
“Cretaceous Catastrophe,” a scene from what might happen if dinosaurs celebrated Thanksgiving, won the contest’s Grand Marshal Award for most outstanding creative concept and design. San Luis Obispo campus’ Miranda Standing, a junior studying graphic communications from Stockton, California, submitted the design.
“Multicolor Mayhem,” based on the Hindu holiday of Holi, with monkeys playing Tabla drums and other happy animals under a rainbow of colors, was another Cal Poly SLO team winner. The entry — by Saira Mapes, a second-year liberal studies major from San Jose, California, and computer engineering senior William Terlinden of Long Beach, California — captured the Crown City Innovator Award for the most outstanding use of imagination.
“The designs exceeded my expectations,” Agbayani added. “I loved the whimsy of ‘Cretaceous Catastrophe’ and the attention to detail in ‘Strength in Numbers,’ which nailed down details in design, construction and decoration.”
McManus, who plans to graduate in June and pursue a career as an elementary school teacher, said the goal for the contest was not just to keep participants excited in a year when there was neither a float nor a parade.
“The main purpose was to allow anyone who was interested to learn more about Rose Float in this weird year,” they said. “The Zoom meetings allowed new people to learn about the program at the same time that it gave current team members a refresher. The group aspect of the contest gave current team and new members a chance to meet and work together.
“I think that any connections that this competition managed to foster during the year of social distancing was a triumph. I also hope that when the new team reforms in person, some new people will already be acquainted with our methods and possibly know some of the current team because of the competition.”
While the Tournament of Roses won’t be hosting the traditional Rose Parade® in 2021 due to COVID-19, it will produce a New Year’s Day celebration to be broadcast in its place — featuring students from both Cal Poly universities.
The two-hour TV special will feature live-to-tape musical and marching band performances, celebrity guest appearances and “heart-warming segments about the Rose Parade.”
Cal Poly Rose Float teams will be highlighted in one segment.
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Cal Poly Journalism Alumnus Publishes a Photobook on World War II
Jan 11, 2021
By Sophia Lincoln
Cal Poly journalism alumnus Thomas Kelsey recently published his latest book 75 Years Later-Warbirds, Airman and Veterans of World War II, a 30-years-long project featuring interviews with veterans, original photographs and a narrative of national unity during a time of crisis.
“What makes the book even more special is it shows how Americans came together as a country during a time of worldwide crisis, just like today,” Kelsey wrote in an email.
According to Kelsey, the book also includes some of his own personal family history and even that of San Luis Obispo.
“The book has its roots traced to when my dad did his basic training for the US Army at Camp San Luis Obispo in 1944 before being shipped to the European theatre of warfare,” Kelsey said.
Kelsey is a practiced photojournalist and has worked for nine different newspapers since graduating Cal Poly, including the Los Angeles Times and Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado.
Kelsey has also received numerous awards and recognition for his work, including Picture of the Year for the National Press Photographers Association, the California Press Photographers Association, the Colorado Press Photographers Association and the Greater Los Angeles Press Photographers Association.
Kelsey has photographed six presidents and covered noteworthy events including the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Earthquake in 1989 and two papal visits of Pope John Paul II. He has also worked in sports photography, photographing four World Series, including the Dodgers and the Padres.
“My career started at Cal Poly and has taken a long and winding road and I wouldn't trade it for anything,” Kelsey wrote in an email.