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So our four months have come to an end here at BambooSK8. I have had great experience here, meeting and working with the interns as well as the staff. For me it’s all about the people you work with, and the people here at BambooSK8 were some of the best I have worked with. I feel like things just fit well with our intern class, everyone one was really nice and had something different to bring to the table. We had some great times that I will never forget, like our fundraising party, or the trip to mission beach for a kit boarding contest, and going to a celebrity gifting event in LA, just to name a few. We grew really close and I hope to stay in contact with everyone. I just want to say thanks to everyone at BambooSK8 and class 6 for giving me this great experience.

Last weekend myself, Mark and Andrew had to privilege to be involved a celebrity gifting event in Studio City. As we got to the hotel where the event was taking place, we walked around the pool like we owned the place. Mark and Andrew strolled up wearing their matching tank tops dressed for the beach. When we got to the other side there was a huge white tent with tables set up  all around with people dressed in, what I would call “Sunday church clothes”. After being there for a few minutes, we herd a man announce a persons name, who apparently was famous for something (they would do this every time a new “famous” person entered the tented area). As they went around to all the tables they would stop at ours and either Mark or I would have a brief conversation about BambooSK8 and Andrew would give them a few flyers and business cards to get in contact if they decided to endorse our product in some way. We got there kind of late so we were only there for a few hours before things started to shut down. After the event we went to a fashion show in West Lake (where Mark went to college) for a womens lingerie/bathing suit store called J-Girl. Again we showed up dressed to impress and again our attire was way off from everyone else’s. This was the only fashion show that I think I have ever been too, and it was GREAT!!! There was an open bar (WOW) and free food with beautiful women walking around… nothing wrong with that. All and all, it was a great weekend and I would do it again in a heart beat.

When I was in high school I was always looking at the clock waiting for the bell to ring so that I could go home and watch TV and do nothing. I always did what I was told and tried not to get in trouble. I was an average student, never trying to get the best grade, just a B, which was fine with me. I was never one to question the teacher, just tried to pass so that my parents would be happy. Now that I am older I have realized that it is not all about the grade or pleasing your parents, it’s about finding that one thing that you want to be good at. Asking questions about things that interested me was what I should have been doing. I have realized that most kids are like I was in high school; they just want to get by. I think it is because they don’t know what to ask or what they want to do. Kyle and I have been going to Madison High School and working with kids (mainly freshmen) who have so much potential to find something that they are interested in.  We are trying to create an environment where they feel free to explore what they want, where there are no tests or grades to worry about. We want to expose them to as many different things that might interest them (mainly in action sports) so that they can find what it is that lights their fire. We want to be a good resource for them.   We want them to discover how to pursuit an idea; and that it’s never too soon to take those ideas and build on them.

Kyle and I are going to be entertaining/ teaching high school kids about business in the action sports industry. This is going to give us an opportunity to talk with kids about skateboarding and show them what BambooSK8 is all about. We are having a hard time coming up with things that we can do for them that will be educational and keep their attention the whole time. Although it is really cool to talk with these kids instead of communicating through email, which is what I have been doing thus far on Hook It.  I want to get a reaction from them and read what it is about skating they really like i.e. the culture, the image, the sport etc.  We are really excited to spark their interests and help them find what it is they want to do later in life.  We are also hoping to learn what we can from them; considering they are the largest demographic that buys skateboards these days. We have come up with a curriculum that we hope they will enjoy. Seeing that high school kids are the majority of BambooSK8′s customers, we hope that we can bring back some useful insight. We will fill you in after we have our first class.

We are now in week 8 of our internship here at BambooSK8 and it has been a great ride. We had our fundraiser at the OC Tavern on Friday (2.26.10) and I think it went really well. We had a great time and got our name out there to a lot of cool people in the area. Throughout my time here I have learned a lot of unexpected lessons. I have changed my perceptions which has changed views of myself in different ways. This experience has only brought about good things for me. I have been learning more than I expected, and I hope to continue my education during my time here.

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the Action Sports Retailers (ASR) and Crossroads trade show with Bri, Marty, Aaron, and of course our president Geoff Koboldt. We had a great time checking out all the booths of brands that I am familiar with and those that I have never herd of before. We talked to a lot of retailers about our company and showed off our new decks, while collecting contract information from those in the skateboarding industry. At Crossroads we were fortunate enough to meet and take a photo with professional skater Christian Hosoi. The whole experience was very informative and exciting, thanks again Geoff for inviting us.

Due to most kids current lack of money situation we are offering our newly sponsored skaters a huge discount on our new 70% bamboo decks. If you are a newly sponsored skater through the Hook It eco-tribe sponsorship and you have not herd about this deal please contact us though email, but hurry it is not going to last forever. We are also planning a fundraising party coming up at the end of February so stay tuned for more details.

We have been working on getting some great graphics on our boards.  We have just gotten in a new monkey graphic which is awesome, and have been generating new ideas everyday on creative ways to get the coolest graphics ever. If anyone has something that you know other would love to see on our new 70% bamboo decks please let us know. We have also made huge improvements to the office, including 10 new white boards. I can already feel good things coming our way; Stay tuned for what they are.

The new %70 decks are in, and they are AWESOME!!! they have the BambooSk8 logo burned into the tail, and it looks great. They have so much more concave and pop, we are so confident that everyone is going to love them. We have been working hard on promo’s like starting a graphic contest and a “best promoter/ fan” contest for everyone. The winner gets a new deck and their graphic is going to appear on our new decks. So get your pencil and paper out or your computer and start working on those awesome graphics. We also have changed our levels or sponsorship for all the kids on Loop’ed so check it out at loopd.com and get sponsored!!!

It is now Thursday and my fourth day in the office. I have met just about everyone that is currently working here at BambooSk8, and I am very impressed with everyone. I have been working with Andrew getting to know the ins and outs of the Loop’ed networking site. I have been learning a lot of new things about different aspects of Bamboosk8. We are currently trying to come up with ideas to raise money for a marketing budget. If there are any good ideas out there please let us know. E-mail geoff@bamboosk8.com

I flew into LA on friday, and spent the weekend up there, but now I am in Oceanside at the Bamboosk8 office/ warehouse. I have only spent 5 hours here on my first day here, but I already know that I am going to like it. I like the cave and the warehouse, and the people seem really cool too. There is not much to report on yet, just getting everything on my computer set up…. Stay tooned for more updates!!