A Day of Skiing for Class

Jennifer A

April 7, 2012 - 12:00 PM

I am a double major in Public Relations and Advertising. For my final capstone class in Advertising I have to take something called Campaigns. When you are enrolled in this class you are given a client and have to produce a full advertising campaign for that client. It is this kind of real hands-on work that makes the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication one of the best. For my class our client is Hoodoo Ski and Recreation area.

Hoodoo is a resort about two hours away from Eugene. It is a smaller mountain that is soon to celebrate their 75th anniversary. Their marketing director came to speak to our class and offered us free lift tickets for the day to ‘research' the mountain. My team and I jumped on the offer with enthusiasm!

We loaded into my teammates suburban through the beautiful drive of the McKenzie Pass. The sun was shinning, the wind was non-existent and spirits were high. It was the day of their ‘Spring Fling' which consisted of people dressing up in silly costumes and competing in something called pond skimming. Pond skimming is when a snowboarder or skier heads straight down a hill very quickly at a 12ft long pond to see if they could make it to the other side without sinking. It was a blast! I would say about half the people sunk midway through and had to try and swim their way out of there with a snowboard attached. We took videos, pictures and soaked up some sunshine. The day ended too quickly and we headed back home.

Most people spent their weekend with their coursework reading over the textbook or answering math problems. I spent mine ‘researching' the atmosphere of a ski resort. To say I love my major would be an understatement.