Putting the Pieces Together: Business Student Was a Key Player on Award-Winning 2024 Rose Float Team

In the Cal Poly Rose Float Shed, information systems student Nathan Jermin cuts a long piece of square metal tubing based on the needed dimensions for the Rose Float, getting the angles right, and then cleans it with a wire brush to prepare it for the weld.

Jermin places two metal pieces together with a joint and secures the metal to make sure it stays aligned. In order to make this a strong weld, Jermin will have to ensure the electric power settings are right on the welder.

“I’ve always found building things to be very interesting,” Jermin said. “That’s what got me into welding – the process of taking something from bare metal to designing it to building it and having a finished product.”

The Cal Poly Rose Float team was created in 1949, and the 2024 float marked the 75th Cal Poly float to enter in the Tournament of Roses Parade, held annually on or around New Years Day. The Cal Poly Rose Float team is a joint effort between Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona.

During the construction of the 2024 Cal Poly Rose Float, Jermin, who was the main structural lead for the Cal Poly Rose Float team, and all the other members of the team would work on the float at least one day a week for a 9-10 hour day and sometimes double up with two days and work for 16-20 hours.

Cal Poly universities’ “Shock n’ Roll: Powering the Musical Current” float that depicts electric eels powering musical implements in a colorful undersea environment with massive manta rays, received the Crown City Innovator Award at the 135th Rose Parade® held New Year’s Day. (Photo/Tom Zasadzinski, Cal Poly Pomona)

The float’s theme was Shock and Roll: Powering the Musical Current. With a large piano on the side and many sea creatures surrounding the float, the 18-by-55 foot float won the Crown City Innovator Award.

“I think that was just such a Cal Poly award to win,” Rose Float Coordinator Josh D’Acquisito said.

D’Acquisito described Jermin as a “key player” and said that not only did Jermin take responsibility for his welds, but he also took responsibility for the other welds on the project and helped others to keep the project on track because he understood the project management aspect.

“I think over the years we’ve almost always had about one business student on our leadership team,” D’Acquisito said. “And I think they certainly bring that overall broad thinking and honing in on what is it we’re doing and why are we doing it and how do we stay on track kind of thing. I really value having students from a variety of majors because we look at all the different aspects of the year round program of putting together a float.”

Jermin started welding when he took a class at Templeton High School. His high school had a lot of resources for fabrication, engineering, and welding in a shop with about forty machines.

After graduating from Templeton High School, Jermin went to Cuesta College and took a structural welding certificate class to get his certification.

“I’ve always found building things to be very interesting. That’s what got me into welding – the process of taking something from bare metal to designing it to building it and having a finished product.”

Nathan Jermin

“Pretty early into my high school years, I knew I wanted to go the Cuesta-to-transfer-to Poly route,” Jermin said. “One of our counselors came in and told us about it, and they said that basically you can go to Cuesta for free for two years being in the county and then transfer to Cal Poly with a pretty high transfer rate and that seemed like a logical route to me.”

Coming into Cuesta College, Jermin was a general engineering major but found business a little more interesting, so he switched majors.

“As I started to get into [engineering], I realized I was not the most mathematically inclined, and it may not be the right fit for me,” Jermin said. “And so then I transferred to business as a way to potentially continue that passion of building, designing, and more transferring it to a business- oriented mindset of maybe the business side of a fabrication shop.”

While he was at Cuesta College, he started to get involved in the Rose Float Team where he mainly watched and observed.

Nathan Jermin in the Rose Float shed. Jermin was the main structural lead for the 2024 Rose Float team. (Photo/ Jack Sann)

D’Acquisito said he thinks Jermin was attracted to the program because of the hands-on practical skills. He described Jermin as a builder and commented on the incredible projects he has built even back in high school.

“And so, he was certainly looking for something where he could get in and really produce something,” D’Acquisito said. “Have a tangible result.”

He came to Cal Poly under information systems in the business college because he said he has an area of interest in technology and has built a few computers. He said information systems integrates that passion with the business side: dealing with data, computers, and leveraging computers to further business operations.

Jermin said that in his business classes, he has had to do a lot of group projects which has helped him come out of his shell and get comfortable working with other people.

“Going forward into my career, working with small groups of people is going to be very important in ensuring the success of projects,” Jermin said.

Similar to the skills he used in his business classes, one of the biggest things Jermin took out of the Rose Float was how to lead and work well with other people. He oversaw a small team in his last year in Rose Float and had one person who was shadowing him.

“She was very eager to learn, and it was a really cool teaching experience, one-on-one, to help her learn welding,” Jermin said.

Jermin faced a learning curve when he had to learn how to effectively teach someone something that they have little knowledge about coming in an effective way while focusing on his own projects.

Nathan Jermin was a “key player” in the 2024 Rose Float competition. (Photo/Jack Sann)

After graduation this year, Jermin is looking for a corporate job to build up knowledge and skills for a few years. Ideally, he would like to find a company that works in fabrication, or potentially start a company that deals in fabrication.

“Fabrication is basically having an idea, drawing out that idea, figuring out lengths and angles to design it properly and then the process of taking metal or wood, or whatever you are working with from raw material to machining it into the final product that you design,” Jermin said

Jermin highlighted how Rose Float is a great program for students to get involved in to be part of a team.

“Just as a shout out for Rose Float, I mean, it’s a great program,” Jermin said. “It’s open to all majors. And, you know, we actually have a severe lack of business majors. I know last year, I was the only business major in the program, which is generally the case. We don’t tend to get a lot of business majors, but they teach you everything from the ground up.”