While most students are taking the summer to relax off campus, about 40 members of the Cal Poly Pomona rose float club and committee are working on next year’s entry in the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade.

Collaborative efforts from Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have been in full swing since the design concept was finalized in February. The rose float committee sifted through 98 entries before choosing the winning concept, “Galactic Expedition,” proposed by Michael Roussin, a third-year mechanical engineering student from Cal Poly Pomona.

“This was actually one I didn’t think I would win,” said Roussin, who has participated in the design concept contest for three years.

“Galactic Expedition” consists of children building a rocket and getting ready to blast off into space and is based on the theme of next year’s parade, “Building Dreams, Friendships & Memories.”

Roussin said his knowledge of engineering helped in developing his design.

“I imagined how it may move and how it would be operating underneath to see if it were even possible,” Roussin said. The float will be about 50 feet long, with several animated components.

Roussin plans to help build and decorate the float as well as see it at the parade.

The rose float club will meet every Saturday during the summer to finish the preliminary construction of the base of the float. Sean Conant, marketing coordinator for the committee, said only a few students outside the club volunteer during the summer, but more turn out in the fall because that’s when most of the work happens.

Conant says any student interested in working on the float is welcome at the lab. More information about the float and volunteering can be found on the rose float website, www.rosefloat.org.