Students interested in journalism and media often picture heading to a big city or attending one of the industry’s best-known schools. But for many Westchester County students, the path to a career in news, broadcasting, digital media, or filmmaking can begin much closer to home.
Mercy University, Pace University, and SUNY Westchester Community College each offer programs that combine classroom instruction with hands-on experience. From campus media and student-run publications to internships and multimedia storytelling, students graduate with professional portfolios and practical skills that prepare them for careers in today’s evolving media industry.
Mercy University: Preparing versatile storytellers for a changing media landscape
Mercy University’s Media Studies program is designed to give students hands-on experience across journalism, video production, and digital storytelling while preparing them for an industry that continues to evolve.
“Our goal is versatility,” says Louis Grasso, the program director of Media Studies at Mercy. “The student with their head wrapped around all of media who understands its potential is the most successful student in the long run.”
Courses are built around real-world assignments that help students graduate with professional portfolios. Students in journalism classes contribute to The Impact, the university’s online news publication, where they produce news, feature, sports, and investigative stories that can be shared with future employers.
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The curriculum is updated regularly to keep pace with changes in the media industry. Recent additions include social media video production and video montage production, while students also learn industry-standard editing software such as DaVinci Resolve. Other courses cover digital journalism, broadcast journalism, documentary production, and investigative reporting.
Beyond the classroom, every student is required to complete an internship before graduating. Grasso said the requirement, in place since 1993, has helped improve graduates’ employment outcomes, with a university survey finding that more than two-thirds of graduates were working in their field within five years of graduation.
Beginning in fall 2027, the university plans to launch a redesigned Media Studies program that combines journalism, video and film production, audio recording, and creative technologies under one umbrella. The goal, Grasso says, is to ensure graduates leave with a broad multimedia skill set that allows them to adapt as the industry changes.
Pace University: Hands-on media training with New York City connections
Pace University’s Department of Media, Communications, and Visual Arts combines classroom instruction with hands-on production experience, giving students the opportunity to explore careers in journalism, filmmaking, public relations, and digital media.
Located on the university’s Pleasantville campus, the program offers degrees in communications, digital journalism, digital cinema and filmmaking, and public relations. Students have access to a state-of-the-art communications center equipped with professional video production equipment, editing labs, audio recording studios, and television studios, the university says.
Experiential learning is a major focus of the program. Students produce documentaries, create music videos, experiment with drone technology, and complete projects that mirror the work they will encounter in the media industry. Advanced filmmaking students also produce professional-quality documentaries, with past projects taking students to locations including Brazil, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Hawaii, faculty says.
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Internships are another cornerstone of the program. Pace’s location near New York City gives students access to opportunities with organizations including the CNN Documentary Unit, Fox Sports, The View, Pleasantville Community Television, and the City of Yonkers Mayor’s Office.
Amanda DeSarno ’26, a communications major who will begin working as a client relations coordinator for The Clio Awards after graduation, says several Pace experiences helped shape her career path.
“Writing for electronic media helped me develop storytelling skills and create engaging content for television, while sports media connected my interest in sports with the way broadcasters engage fans in real time,” DeSarno says. She adds that her internship with the beauty brand SpoiledChild helped her discover she wanted to work collaboratively on product launches and major events.
That combination of hands-on learning, clubs, internships, and access to one of the world’s largest media markets has helped prepare graduates for careers at organizations including CNN, Fox News, WCBS, WABC, Hearst Newspapers, Ad Age, and many other organizations.
SUNY Westchester Community College: Building multimedia skills from day one
SUNY Westchester Community College gives aspiring journalists and media professionals the opportunity to build a strong foundation before transferring to a four-year institution or entering the workforce. Through its Journalism A.S. and Communications and Media Arts A.A. programs, students gain hands-on experience in reporting, multimedia storytelling, broadcast production, and digital content creation from the beginning of their academic careers.
“What sets our Communications, Journalism, and Media Arts program apart is the combination of hands-on experiential learning, faculty mentorship, and a capstone experience,” say Prof. Julio A. Rodriguez-Rentas and Prof. Rodeena Stephens, co-chairs of the Department of Communications, Journalism, and Media Arts in the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
Students work in the college’s state-of-the-art COMM Central Multimedia Center, where they produce podcasts, write broadcast news stories, create multimedia content, and develop social media and marketing campaigns. The facility includes a television production studio, podcast studio, radio station, innovation lab, control room, and speech and voice lab, giving students access to the same types of technology used in professional media environments.
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Outside the classroom, students gain experience through The Viking News, the college’s student newspaper, and POWER 88.1 FM, the campus radio station. Students can also pursue internships and opportunities such as the Carol Smith Passariello/Pulitzer Center Student Reporting Fellowship. SUNY WCC is also home to the nation’s first Public Relations Student Society of America chapter at a community college and is the only community college founding member of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Beyond teaching technical media skills, the curriculum prepares students to navigate today’s rapidly changing communications landscape, faculty says. Courses in mass media, news literacy, and interpersonal communication help students evaluate information, recognize misinformation and media bias, understand the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, and communicate responsibly across platforms.
The program culminates in a capstone course, where students create a professional digital portfolio showcasing their strongest work, from podcasts and broadcast productions to media campaigns and written reporting. The portfolio gives students a polished collection of work they can use when transferring to a four-year institution or applying for internships and jobs.
Graduates have gone on to four-year colleges and careers in journalism, broadcasting, public relations, and digital media. According to Rodriguez-Rentas and Stephens, alumni frequently cite the capstone course, small class sizes, and close faculty mentorship as some of the program’s greatest strengths. Among the program’s graduates is a multi-Emmy Award-winning cinematographer, reflecting the college’s long-standing commitment to preparing students for careers in the media industry.
Next Steps
Interested in learning more about a career in journalism and media? Check out the programs at each educational institution listed in this article:
Mercy University
555 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry
47 West 34th Street, New York
1200 Waters Place, Bronx
Website
Pace University
861 Bedford Road, Pleasantville
1 Pace Plaza, New York
Website
SUNY Westchester Community College
75 Grasslands Road, Valhalla
Website
Related: 19 Tips for Using the Westchester-Putnam Career Center Website
