Nearly 6 million Americans gathered to watch the 2021 Super Bowl as Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought home the title. But as most people watched from their TVs, SJMC alumna Tori Richman watched through her camera lens on the sideline.

Richman graduated in 2019 with a visual communications degree and now works as the Buccaneer’s team photographer — and she even gets to hang out with them. “There was one moment when they were all in this big huddle and I’m in the middle of it and they’re all passing around the trophy,” she says. “It’s really cool getting to build those relationships.”

Her teachers at the SJMC encouraged her to go for different ideas and fostered her creativity — even when she wasn’t in their classes. “I remember I was going to shoot my first Panthers game and [associate] professor Kornegay vouched for me to be able to use equipment that was outside of my class level because he said it was a huge opportunity. And I didn’t even have him for class,” she says.

The freedom to take risks with her photography and the support she got from the SJMC have helped in her new role. “As I got into my job, I felt like the ideas I had could be trusted,” she says. “It’s a tight-knit school and the professors honestly just want you to be prepared for the future.”