Parsa Hamran

Freshman Med Pappula cheers as he and the rest of the class of 2029 float committee accompanies their float through the parade. The class of 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 floats were shown off during halftime at the 2025 homecoming football game on Sept. 26. “After we finished [the float parade], [the class of 2029 float committee] celebrated,” Med said. “We felt special because we built something that [meant a lot to us] and special to our whole grade.”

After weeks of planning, designing and trial and error, Jefferson students had their class floats shown off at the homecoming football game on Sept. 26 during halftime of the homecoming football game. Float building has been an event since the early 1900s in high schools that participate in homecoming in the US, and Jefferson is no exception.

With it being his first year at Jefferson, freshman Thomas Traon joined the float building committee for the class of 2029 when a friend asked for his help.

“Most of float building is just figuring out what we are actually able to do within the time frame that we have,” Tran said. “[The process of float building] is generally just designing and sketching for the first 30% of the total time we have. For the rest of [the time], we are trying to actually implement those features.”

Each year, there is an overall theme for the floats, with sub-categories for the individual grades to follow. This school year, the theme for class of 2029 was “Minions,” the theme was “Ninjagos” for class of 2028, class of 2027 made “Star Wars” themed floats and the theme was “Disney” for the class of 2026. The overall theme was film franchises.

“I feel like [the class of 2027 float] had a really cohesive theme,” junior Aden Abeye—one of the spectators during the football game—said. “I’m a big ‘Star Wars’ fan. [The floats] exceeded my expectations, especially the [class of 2026]. The blinking lights were a really nice touch. I was really excited to see the artwork on all of them; I feel like [the art] gets more intricate every year when they spend more time on it.”

Bringing the vibrant and unique ideas to life wasn’t an easy task. A lot of work was put into the floats to make sure they were ready on time for the parade. Behind the scenes, every move and step was guided by certain processes. From the early ideas and sketches, to the final float—it all depended on teamwork and a shared mindset.

“We had around three weeks to [design and build the float],” Tran said. “Some of the students who were able to stay after school did [help out with the float] after school.”

Froshcomm is in charge of leading the freshmen in all of the homecoming events before voting for class council happens. Ahaana Rajan was a part of froshcom and was in charge of overseeing the float building committee for the class of 2029. She had to coordinate the materials used for the float and acted as a bridge of communication between the float committee and the sponsors who helped fund the float building.

“I am not a part of the actual float building process, but whenever they need help, I am there to step in,” Rajan said. “The biggest [issue] is time, because we do not have that much time to build the entire float. So, we have had to make a lot of adjustments to our design. Another conflict was trying to find a flatbed truck we could rent and a platform.”

Dealing with roadblocks was only one part of her role—Rajan also had to make sure that every member of the freshman float building committee contributed their strengths effectively. Float building is a team effort, which means certain skills were needed to make sure everyone was doing their part and contributing to the final product. Some of these abilities went beyond hands-on work and were more about the mindset.

“Even though you have defined rules, you just make sure that everyone’s voice is heard during the process of creating the design and making the float,” Rajan said. “For communication, we always try our best to make sure that everyone is updated [on what is going on]. So, we just make sure to send out frequent emails and keep everyone updated.”

These skills became especially important when the float building committees had to figure out transportation for the float to the football game and the assembly of the float itself once at the game. Though it can be rough, it shows their adaptability and how flexible they are in the situations. It ended up ultimately strengthening their bond as a whole and let them gain the skills they were once unfamiliar with.

“We had around three weeks to [design and build the float], and one of the biggest struggles was that we couldn’t communicate very well with the supervisors,” Tran said. “So, it was really hard for us to [plan out the float]. In the end, we only had one or two weeks to actually work on the float, before it had to be released.”

Though more aware of the process of float building, the seniors at Jefferson a part of the float building committee still had to persevere through their own hardships.

“It’s always time [that is an issue], because there’s so much to do and such little time to do it all,” senior Dylan Truncellito said. “Since the deadlines this year have been a little up in the air, [we are trying to] stay on track while still doing the work to the best of our ability [with the time we have].”

Despite the challenges along the way, Jefferson students stayed determined and persevered towards their goal. They strategized as a group to find solutions that would work.

“We [met] a lot to work [on the float] every weekend and after school,” Truncellito said. “Sometimes we all think [the float] will [look] good with [our own] opinions. So, finding a way to put all our opinions together and trying to incorporate all the different little aspects we want [to add to the float]. I have been [a part of the float committee] since sophomore year, and I have learned a lot about how [floats] are constructed from beginning to end.”

At the football game, the floats were shown off during halftime. The float committee members walked alongside their class’ float. The Student Government Association (SGA) president and vice president for the 2025-2026 school year were in the sound booth in charge of introducing the floats while the float parade was happening.

“I was very excited to see what [the different grades] had to bring, especially the seniors, because they always bring their all every year,” SGA President Jocelyn Huie said. “I think [the class of 2026] won every single year that we’ve been at [Jefferson]. [The float building committees] put a lot of effort [into the floats], and I’m very happy with how they turned out.”

Float building takes creativity, commitment and grit. The designs the committees come up with are original and thought out all by the members themselves.

“All the hard work paid off,” Huie said. “I really enjoyed seeing how much effort everyone put in every year, they always surprise me. Honestly, I could never do something like that. So, it’s just incredible what they can come up with.”

After the floats were shown off, the float members had to disassemble the float. Even though the floats were taken apart, students enjoyed the process of building them.

“We built [the class of 2026 float] at my house, so it was just fun seeing it come to life [on] my street,” senior Zella Mantler said. “It was just a good way to start senior year.”