Hands-On Learning

Hands-On Learning

Hands-On Learning

Real-World Experience in the Field

We believe the practice you get in the field is just as important as what you learn in the classroom. Want to master public relations or advertising? Develop a campaign for a real-world client? Generate clips for your journalism portfolio? Create a digital publication? Build your skills with a paid internship, network at the nation’s top agencies, or cover stories around the globe. The adventure—and your future career—starts here.

79%
of SOJC students participate in experiential learning
66%

hold one or more internships

13%
work on a student publication, agency, or group
8%
take learning and networking trips

What Story Will You Tell?

College is not just about getting a degree. It’s about planning your life story. See how some of our students have explored their passions in our flexible programs, discovered their purpose through our focus on ethics and brand responsibility, met their people in our welcoming community, and put their skills into practice with our state-of-the-art production spaces, student-run publications and agencies, internships, and learning trips around the world.

SOJC students goofing off on a dock overlooking the water in Alaska
#LifeasaJStudent Blog

What better way to learn about #LifeasaJStudent than from the students themselves. Read first-person blog posts about SOJC students’ experiential learning adventures during internships, on trips, and in their favorite classes. Watch student-produced videos about what they’ve learned and the projects they’ve created. And see their gorgeous photography from their fieldwork around the world.

Visit our Student Blog

Spring 2021 Issue of FLUX Magazine
Student-Run Publications, Agencies, and Clubs

Make an impact on the real world—and your portfolio—while you’re still in school. Do award-winning journalism for publications like FLUX and OR Magazine. Create illuminating documentaries for NW Stories. Work with real-life clients in a student-run advertising or public relations agency. Build your broadcast reel in DuckTV. We’ve got a lot of work to do and something for everyone.

Explore Student Groups

Learning and Networking Trips Around the World

There’s nothing like travel to expand minds, horizons, and opportunities. With dedicated faculty as their guides, our students network and learn at agencies and media outlets in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco. They launch socially conscious ad campaigns in Ghana and do media research in India. And they cover award-winning stories in places like Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Alaska, and Nepal. Where will the work take you?

a female student smiling
two male students with camera equipment with mountains in the background
Two female students eating noodles

Looking for funding to support your experiential learning opportunity? Email Jessika Kaiser to find out about our Experiential Learning Fund and process.

A female student interviewing two females and taking handwritten notes in a notebook
Internships for On-the-Job Experience

More than 80 percent of the interns in our Oregon-wide Charles Snowden Program for Ethics in Journalism land a media job after graduation. Advertising, journalism, and public relations students in our Portland Experience program hold internships at the city’s top agencies, media outlets, and nonprofit organizations. And our one-of-a-kind Media in Ghana program takes students halfway around the world for summer jobs at West African media outlets.

Learn More about Internships

A female student interviewing two females and taking handwritten notes in a notebook
Internships for On-the-Job Experience

More than 80 percent of the interns in our Oregon-wide Charles Snowden Program for Ethics in Journalism land a media job after graduation. Advertising, journalism, and public relations students in our Portland Experience program hold internships at the city’s top agencies, media outlets, and nonprofit organizations. And our one-of-a-kind Media in Ghana program takes students halfway around the world for summer jobs at West African media outlets.

Learn More About Internships

students check out camera equipment from the Allen Hall J-Cage
Resources to Help You Succeed

We’re here to help! As a student, you’ll get access to the latest media-making gear in the Allen Hall J-Cage and the gear closet at SOJC Portland. Expert writing coaches are standing by at Writing Central to offer one-on-one help with your papers, articles, and news releases. And you’ll get access to state-of-the-art production equipment in our Experience Hub and Portland-based Oregon Reality Lab. It’s all part of the SOJC student experience.

Learn about the Experience Hub

Explore the OR Lab