For many students who choose Portland State, the decision to come here isn't just about academics, it's about belonging. That was certainly true for Madison Tewes, a PSU third-year majoring in Sexuality, Gender & Queer Studies and minoring in business. Tewes made the leap from Lincoln, Nebraska after falling in love with Oregon on a family road trip. She chose PSU specifically because it offered a full major in her chosen field of study, something she couldn't find at other schools she considered.
"It all felt right," she says. "There was that gut feeling that Portland State was the place I was supposed to end up at."
But knowing a city is right for you and actually putting down roots there are two different things. That's where PSU's connections to Portland's local business community came in.
Fom left to right: Sports Bra founder Jenny Nguyen, PSU intern Madison Tewes, and Sports Bra VP of Engagement Deborah Pleva
A classroom education, a real-world community
Through her department chair, she learned about a partnership forming between PSU's Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies department and the Sports Bra — the nation's first women's sports bar whose flagship is in Portland. Tewes interviewed, landed a role and quickly discovered that working inside Portland's business community felt completely different from studying it at a distance.
"Working with the Sports Bra has made me feel a lot more at home here," Tewes says. "It's given me so many connections to local organizations — whether that's sports leagues, nonprofits, or local businesses — that I would otherwise never have made or even known about."
Through this experience, she's developed practical skills in marketing, communications and professional workflows that she'll carry into her career. But more than the technical knowledge, she credits the role with expanding her sense of what's possible.
"I will always hold an immense amount of gratitude for the confidence I've been able to develop," she says.
Women's sports, community and a clearer path forward
Part of what drew Tewes to Portland in the first place was its reputation as a city with a genuine, visible queer community. That same instinct toward belonging extended to how she found her footing in women's sports. She grew up playing basketball and doing cheer, but over time had drifted away from feeling like sports had a space for her. Working at the Sports Bra changed that entirely, and watching it change others has been just as powerful.
"Maybe our definition of life-changing is a little too grand," she reflects. "But when a little girl has the opportunity to walk into the Sports Bra and see, for the first time, women who look like them represented and celebrated on our TV screens — when you see the way that influences a young girl, you quickly understand the impact a women's sports bar can have just by changing the channel."
That shift in perspective reshaped her own relationship to sports, too. What once felt like a world that didn't have room for her is now something she's deeply invested in.
"Getting out of my comfort zone and getting pushed into the welcoming arms of the quickly expanding world of women's sports has been my favorite part of this whole experience,” she says. “A love for women's sports is something that will stick with me forever."
This personal growth has also clarified her professional direction.
Tewes has long dreamed of owning a queer community space, spending countless hours mapping out what that could look like with her friends. For a long time it felt out of reach, more of a fantasy than a plan. Working at the Sports Bra changed that. Being alongside the people who built something real from that kind of dream made her own feel a lot more possible.
"[It inspired] a faith in me that everything will work out and a confidence in myself — knowing I can do anything," she says.
The classroom is just the starting point
Tewes' story is a reminder of what can happen when academic work connects to real community. As an urban campus, PSU students across departments find themselves in rooms and roles they never expected through partnerships with local organizations and businesses doing work that reflects their values. The skills, the networks, the confidence — those tend to follow. For Tewes, they already have.