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