Patrick Henry College's Journalism & Digital Design program is unique among journalism programs. No other program in America trains young Christians with a combination of 5 integrated distinctives: PHC's rigorous 63-credit classical liberal arts Core Curriculum, expert writing instruction, an applied biblical worldview, proximity to valuable Washington, D.C. internships, and exceptional professional preparation.
Hear more from PHC's journalism professor Dr. Les Sillars and his students!
Dr. Les Sillars, PHC’s professor of journalism, aims to train students in the application of biblical principles, both in Christian and secular contexts.
“This sets us apart more than anything else. Secular colleges offer lots of instruction in the practical tasks of journalism but lack a biblical framework for interpreting the world," he said. "Few Christian colleges offer genuinely professional-level preparation, and we don’t know of any that teach a biblical approach to journalism to the same degree we emphasize it here.”
Students are taught to infuse this biblical approach to journalism into their storytelling. They do this by using God’s Great Story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration to tell true stories that help their audiences understand their own lives in the context of the stories that are unfolding all around them.
PHC also prepares students for navigating the workplace as a Christian with a biblical worldview. Journalism major Hannah Gaschler ('25) said, “Dr. Sillars helps us confront potential scenarios we'd encounter from a biblical perspective, like deciding how we would respond if an editor asked us to cover a Pride event.”
From introductory journalism classes to senior multimedia projects, professors teach students to write with clarity, integrity, and passion. Another facet of PHC’s journalism program that sets it apart is its method of treating journalism as a trade that is learned by going out and practicing it.
The Herald, PHC’s intensive school newspaper, is one example of this. Published once a week, it contains anywhere from 12 to 20 pages of stories. Journalism majors are required to be on the Herald staff for at least two semesters, each week facing the challenges of finding story pitches, managing their time to interview people, and then writing their stories. This gives students exceptional preparation for the workforce.
“One favorite experience is driving 10 hours to Kentucky with my roommate, Molly, to cover the Asbury revival in 2023. … I heard some touching stories, and it felt cool to cover something on national news,” Gaschler said.
PHC has also partnered with WORLD Magazine to produce Doubletake, a podcast that gives the Journalism students at PHC an opportunity to put their skills to the test and pursue a hands-on approach to journalism.
This process of learning journalism by practice has prepared journalism students very well for the workforce.
“The journalism program involves a lot of human interaction and considering what makes something interesting to people. It really highlights the human aspect of a future career in training us both to interact with people and tell their stories,” Gaschler said.
Furthermore, PHC's proximity to Washington, D.C. affords students more immediate access to national newsrooms and leading organizations than any other evangelical college in the country.
Indeed, the PHC journalism program helps students develop skills that they can use for any job or pastime.
Journalism major Josiah Hemp ('26) is not really studying journalism because he wants to be a journalist. In fact, after graduation, he wants to go into full-time pastoral ministry, but he still sees the value of the storytelling aspect of journalism for his future career path.
“Knowledge of how to tell stories well is a big part of pastoring, teaching, and writing. We’re all part of stories, and we’re all part of a story. To be able to teach well and to be able to preach well is to be able to help others understand their place in that story,” he said.
The Core Curriculum gives students the foundation they need to tell compelling and true stories. PHC's unique 63-credit classical liberal arts core curriculum engages students with humanity's most important ideas and people. It is the indispensable foundation for understanding today's world.
PHC's unique, distinctive approach to Journalism pays off. Sillars has seen, in the long term, how students have succeeded in using journalism as a major for many different career paths.
“The skills of journalism are extremely useful in all kinds of contexts outside the newsroom. Our alumni have gone on to become teachers, scholars, activists, and analysts. They’ve started businesses and worked their way into C-suite level positions in, for example, an investment firm,” he said.
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Patrick Henry College challenges the unacceptable status quo in higher education by combining the academic strength and commitment to biblical principles that elite institutions have lost; a commitment to high academic rigor, fidelity to the spirit of the American founding, and an unwavering biblical worldview.
