December 17, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University horticulture student Will Galbreath will fulfill a childhood dream during an upcoming Winter Term course.
“I told my mom that I’ve always wanted to go to the Rose Parade,” the senior from Goodlettsville, Tenn., said. “I think it’s a once in a lifetime chance to be a part of it. Not many people can say they’ve made a float for the Rose Parade.”
But in a few weeks that list will include Galbreath and 11 other WKU students.
The students along with 15 other WKU faculty, staff and community members will be traveling to Pasadena, Calif., to help build floats for the Jan. 1 Tournament of Roses Parade.
“Even though it’s during our Christmas break, it’s well worth it,” said Kristin Goodin, a junior from Columbia.
Goodin signed up for the class after hearing about the Rose Parade trip from horticulture faculty members. “I knew I had to take advantage of the opportunity,” she said.
While helping build floats, the students also are helping build their resumes. “This is a once in a lifetime event. I’m so excited to be going,” Goodin said. “I think that is so nice to say I worked on a float that is on TV.”
Faculty member Roger Dennis, who has traveled to California the past two years for the parade, will be working with Charisma Floats again as a floral designer. The students will be assisting in placing flowers and other organic materials on the floats.
Planning for the trip began last year when Dennis told Charisma Floats president Larry Crain that he might have a group of WKU students who’d be interested in working on the floats. “Larry is all about education so we just worked things out,” Dennis said. “He was excited that we have a full group of students coming.”
“I have always looked at the floats as a real educational experience,” Crain said. “We work with hundreds of volunteers in decorating our floats. Most do not know anything about the floats or the process construction and especially the decorations.
“The benefit in having them here is that it will really add some great workers to our decorators. Their educational background is an asset since they will be aware of the names and types of the products we use.”
The WKU group will leave on Dec. 27 and return on Jan. 8. Being able to offer the course (Horticulture 475: Horticulture in California Rose Parade) for credit during Winter Term was a bonus, Dennis said.
The course, however, isn’t limited to work on Rose Parade floats. “We’re packing a lot into two weeks,” he said. The WKU group will be visiting several sites in California, including flower markets, gardens and arboretums, the Getty Museum and Sequoia National Forest.
As a veteran of previous Rose Parades, Dennis knows the hours of hard work that go into float design and construction. Work began months ago on designing and constructing the frames with flowers and other items added in the days before Jan. 1.
“Nobody knows until they get there what it is like,” Dennis said. “They get to see first-hand how much work it takes to put one of these floats together.”
When the work is completed and the parade begins, the WKU group will be seated in the grandstands near the start of the parade route. Seeing the massive and beautiful floats from that vantage point provides “a whole different perspective than watching it on TV,” Dennis said.
“The Rose Parade is the largest floral parade in the world,” Crain said. “There is no float school. The moment the students touch these floats they will become theirs. That pride of ownership is why volunteers from 13 to 70 years of age come back every year to work. The work is so different than anything most people will be involved with but the process and experience will be an asset to them in the future.”
Other participants in the course and trip include the following: WKU students Lindsay Alderson of Columbia, Tenn.; Diana Edlin of Vevay, Ind.; Lauren Farmer of Georgetown; Marquie Hale of Madison, Tenn.; Mary Hawes of Greensburg; Jenni Johnson of Stamping Ground; Andrew Matthews of Hardinsburg; Shelton Slack of Clarksville, Tenn.; Miranda Tarry of Glasgow; and Laura Walker of Tampa, Fla.; WKU faculty and staff members Debbie Gabbard, Becky Gilfillen, John Kessell and Jack Rudolph, all of Bowling Green; and other participants Brenda Carroll, Becky Dennis, Josh Dennis, Kate Dennis, all of Upton; Pete Dotson of Woodburn; Carolyn Queen of Whittier, N.C.; Gail and Harry Williams of Bowling Green; John Hill of Williamsburg; and Sarah Smith of Hendersonville, Tenn. (a student at Mississippi State University).
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Roger Dennis at (270) 745-5971.
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