Jacksonville and Northeast Florida
Metropolitan Jacksonville is northeast Florida’s financial, commercial, industrial, and transportation center, as well as home to nearly one million people. In addition to a moderate winter and summer climate, Jacksonville offers many advantages to JU students. As a result of its dominant business orientation, Jacksonville offers a multitude of internship and work opportunities. JU is fortunate to have internship arrangements with many of the city’s leading business and industrial organizations.
In terms of cultural, entertainment, and recreational offerings, the city is home to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (JSO), one of the oldest permanent symphony orchestras in the state, as well as the Florida Ballet and Theatre Jacksonville. A variety of national and internationally reknown entertainment can be found at the Florida Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, the Florida Theater, and the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum. For art lovers, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA), the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, the Museum of Science and History and the weekend Riverside Art Market offer a variety of attractions and exhibits.
Outdoor activities can be found at such places as the Jacksonville Zoological Garden as well as the hundreds of parks through out the city. Jacksonville is home for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp minor league baseball team. It was also home to the NFL’s 2005 Super Bowl. Beautiful and sunny Atlantic Ocean beaches are just minutes from campus. The city also offers a myriad of golf courses and tennis facilities, as well as major PGA and ATP tournaments. Fishing, both fresh and saltwater, and water sport opportunities abound. Popular river walks on the south and north banks of the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville attract residents and visitors alike.
Historical sites within an hour’s drive of the JU campus mirror Florida’s colonial heritage. The nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine, is 40 miles south, and its imposing Castillo de San Marcos is a reminder of Florida’s history under Spanish rule. Fort Clinch, near Fernandina Beach, is a Civil War-era military fortress built to defend the seaward approach to Cumberland Sound. The Fort Caroline Memorial, only moments north of the campus, is the remnant of an ill-fated French Huguenot settlement.