A float designed by a Prospect High School graduate for the Cal Poly team won the Extraordinaire Award Jan. 2 in the 134th Rose Parade in Pasadena.

Saira Mapes, a San Jose resident who played volleyball for Prospect and graduated in 2019 from the Saratoga campus, was the design chair for this year’s Rose Float team in San Luis Obispo. Mapes, an industrial technology and packaging student, was responsible for all design aspects of “Road to Reclamation,” the float entry for the Cal Poly campuses in San Luis Obispo and Pomona.

The Extraordinaire Award is granted to the creators of the parade’s most extraordinary float, including those 55 feet or bigger.

Mapes and her student teammates, assisted by scores of volunteers, covered their 18- by-55-foot float with about 20,000 colorful blooms—carnations, mums and Gerbera daisies among them—and organic materials such as cranberries, cornhusks, beans and seeds. “Road to Reclamation” featured animated snails, gigantic toadstools and other flora and fauna that can be found on the forest floor.

“Rose float is a huge commitment, but I love it,” Mapes said. “More time with Rose float means more time hanging out with my friends.”

Mapes was one of more than 70 students, split evenly between the Pomona and San Luis Obispo universities, who participated in building the “Road to Reclamation” float, which showcased the theme of rebirth and renewal with its design capturing the revitalization of a forest floor.

“I think just the composition of it. It looks like a painting from every angle. I’m incredibly proud,” said mechanical engineering student Benjamino Cruz, who submitted the original concept for the float to parade officials.

The 2023 Rose Parade marks the second time the Cal Poly Universities have received the Extraordinaire Award. They also won for “Far Out Frequencies” in 2019. In total, Cal Poly teams have won 62 awards for their floats in the 74 years the universities have participated in the parade.