I had a chance to check in with the guys and gals of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Student Council and see how their 2010 Homecoming float was coming along. The college has been involved with the Homecoming parade and float building for the past five years, and has always done an exceptional job–this year being no different.

For this year’s Toy Story 3 theme, the council decided to build a box reading “Sunnyside” on one side and “College of Earth and Mineral Sciences” on the other. The pièce(s) de résistance, though, are the characters Buzz and Woody, each of whom adorn the float. The council began making plans for the float as far back as summer, coming up with a concept and working on measurements.

So far, the group, which usually has 15-20 members working on the float each night, has spent over 12 man-hours just molding chicken wiring and beginning the much dreaded pomping. Steven Curtis, President of the EMS Student Council said, “Pomping is the most time-consuming part, plus it’s hard to gauge how many pomps we’re going to need for the float each year. But, we still get all the help we need and the Council has fun doing it.”

They always try to get faculty involved–from getting to use lab space to create their float in a nice dry room, to having a dean or two from the college ride the float with students on Saturday. The college likes to watch the parade together outside Deike wearing their EMS Homecoming shirts, eating pizza and candy. Nate Stevens, Homecoming chair for the organization, said, “We didn’t have Homecoming at my high school so building floats and all this is really exciting.” That it is, that it is.