Practicum #3 - Mike D.

Although it has been a while since my last practicum post about Newschoolers.com, the site has been a busy place. I’ve been checking the headlining news daily, and continue to educate myself on the many events and people important to the sport. As the end of the ski season approaches, a number of big events have been going on in the world of skiing, including the Salomon Jib Academy, European X Games, Red Bull Cold Rush and more. Its been a real treat checking out all these events. However, it’s also rather saddening in light of our recent weather. As an avid skier I’m sad to see these higher temperatures and rain. Nevertheless, this site has provided me a connection to the skiing world year round, easing my transition to spring.
I’ve been browsing the contest pages more often lately, and have even entered into a few of the listings. Early last week I submitted an entry to the “Best Photo of the Season” contest. I figured it would be another way to get involved with the site, showcase my abilities, advertise for my home hill, boost my Karma Points, and even possibly win something. After looking through some of the other pictures, I’ve come to realize I will never win... haha. Another contest I entered was the “First Drop Design” contest in which I photoshopped some graphics for some ski outerwear.

In my last post, I introduced Karma Points. Since that post, I’ve gained a few by continuing to post pictures, gain friends who rate me, and make various other posts. The forums have proved the perfect tool for involvement in the site. Once clicking on the “Forums” link at the top of the homepage, the user is navigated to the main forums page. From here the user can choose between types of forums including “Ski Gabber”, “Site Discussion”, “Sell and Trade”, “Gear Talk”, “Movie Trailers”, “Non-Ski Gabber”, “Media and Arts”, “The Ski Show” and “Want to Buy”. The user can also choose from regional forums, cult forums, camp forums and event forums. Their are hundreds of thousands of forums on Newschoolers.com. There’s something out there for everyone, and I’ve found great pleasure in contributing to them (and it makes for a great form of procrastination). I’m still classified as a “newb” forum dweller though, with a small amount of posts. I hope to raise this status in the coming few weeks.

I’m excited for the next couple days of exploring Newschoolers.com. I’ve arrived at the “Community” link on the homepage, which brings me to games and other fun stuff. Until next time...