Incoming class prepares for first competition

This year the theme of FC’s homecoming is ‘Homecoming for Humanity,’ Oct. 6. This year floats are focused on nonprofits and the class to raise the most money for their selected organization wins. Leading up to homecoming, The Feather will post updates on the floats from each class. The float themes selected are; freshmen, Miss Winkles, sophomores, Lanna Coffee, juniors, Hume Lake and seniors, Red Cross.

UPDATE OCT. 2: The past weekend the freshman gathered one last time to complete the last few parts of their float. The class made 50 bags of “puppy chow”, a chocolaty mixture of Chex mix, and powdered sugar.

The group of students put some final touch-ups on the float such as, filling up holes with paint and disassembling the walls for transportation. The class made also made a wood fence to decorate the front of the float. The class will be presenting their float on homecoming, Oct. 6.

UPDATE SEPT. 25: The freshman met again this past weekend and began building. The class constructed and painted the back and side walls. The first day about 10 people showed up and the second day, 15.

They made two groups and had one group build supports for the back wall and had the others paint the walls. On top of that, they built a dog house and painted it red to go with their theme, Miss Winkles. The next meeting will be Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 from 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.

UPDATE SEPT. 14-17:  On Sept. 14, several leadership students made a visit to Miss Winkles animal adoption center to get ideas for the float. While there the students talked to some of the workers about their cause and how they were started. Miss Winkles houses 50-150 dogs and cats at a time. With only three full-time staff and a volunteer crew, they manage all incoming dogs and cats. This new information from the shelter has helped the students gain ideas on what to put on their float.

On Sept. 17, about 25 people showed up to the freshman float building meeting. During the meeting, they made a plan for the layout of the float and drew sketches for design ideas. Everyone who attended was split up into three different groups: one to work on the back wall, and one for each of the two side walls.

During the two and a half hours the class came up with a general idea of what they want their float to become. The freshman plan to meet again, Sept. 23-24 to begin the building process.

Only four weeks into school, homecoming week is approaching and the freshman class is preparing to build their float. Traditionally, the freshmen struggle to compete with the upperclassmen, but some speculate the class will excel in the competition this year.

This year the homecoming theme is Homecoming for Humanity. Each class picked a non-profit organization to make the theme of their float. The freshman chose Miss Winkles animal adoption center. The class chose it because it was more local than larger chains like the SPCA.

Freshman student leader, Cohl Obwald, ’21, is very optimistic about the freshmen float and believes that if people put hard work into it they will do well.

“I think we are going to do really well if everyone works together and tries as hard as they can,” Obwald said. “I’m looking forward to team building throughout the freshman class. I also think our theme will be popular because it’s just something local.”

During their meeting in homeroom on Monday, Sept. 11, led by freshmen student leadership, Carston Saelzler, Andrew Rieker, Addison Schultz, Jacob Hyatt, Adalyn Richardson, Cohl Obwald, Sarah Smith, Bryce Foshee and Landon Bell, informed the class that this year the freshman will build a float with the theme of Miss Winkles, an animal adoption shelter.

Two representatives from the leadership team are attending a meeting with representatives from Miss Winkles staff, Sept. 14, at 4:30 p.m. so they can inform us about what Miss Winkles, as a non-profit, what they do for the community. For those who want to donate to Miss Winkles, please use the freshmen Miss Winkles Go Fund Me account.

The leadership also told the rest of their class they will begin building at the Saelzler’s house starting Sept. 17. The next days will be the two following weekends of Sept. 23-24, and 30-31 from 2-7 p.m. The freshman’s plan is to build their float in a total of five days.

Freshman float build day 1 from The Feather Online on Vimeo.

Check out the other homecoming class floats, including sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

For last year’s freshmen float, read 2016 FC homecoming floats: Freshmen. For more news articles, read Fresno Area College Night showcases 100 colleges.

The author can be reached via twitter @OwenMonke.

Video below shows footage from the first freshman float build.