Student projects are a great way to show off your skills and education to employers after graduation. Sometimes, they even snowball into something bigger.  

That’s exactly what Asher Bloom ’24, Achish Enriquez ’26, Peter Williams ’25 and Ben Shafer ’26 of Pacific’s media production program did, taking their project, “Rhythm,” from a short project into a full-length documentary.  

Now in post-production, it follows Sacramento-based drummer Floyd Kennedy as he teaches music at his church well into his retirement. 

The team says the support of their professors and the Department of Art, Media, Performance and Design made the documentary possible. The department played a pivotal role, funding a trip to the annual media festival South by Southwest. There, they met professionals whose advice and support convinced them to turn “Rhythm” into a documentary.  

Like many projects to come out of Pacific, the core of “Rhythm” starts with the connections students make with each other. 

Learning by doing 

In 2023, Enriquez, Bloom, Williams and several other Pacific students created the EXR Film Production Collective. It served as a way to expand their work portfolios and a chance to learn from each other.  

Their first project was the music short film “remember,” which won first place in the Community Filmmakers category at San Joaquin Delta College’s Digital Media Film Festival in 2024.  

“Rhythm,” started out in a similar vein, set to be just a few minutes long and part of Bloom’s senior project. He also had personal ties to its subject.  

Bloom had known about Kennedy since he was young when he took drum lessons with one of Kennedy’s former students. Years later, when Bloom was a student at Pacific, he started taking lessons with Kennedy directly and learned more about his life.  

“He’s had this amazing life of mentorship through teaching at Natomas High School in Sacramento, where he created a drum line from scratch and helped thousands of students throughout his 30 years there,” Bloom says.  

But the project isn’t just about Kennedy’s drumming or his students’ accomplishments. It’s also about how his efforts as an educator have built communities.  

“He is not only a teacher. He’s a mentor. He’s a father figure,” Enriquez says. “And that’s something that should be shared with everybody—shared with administrators, shared with teachers—to know they can make such a big impact on people’s lives.” 

That was the spark for inspiration, a desire to celebrate the legacy of educators and mentors like Kennedy. So, the team got to work on their short project.  

Turning “Rhythm” into a documentary 

In March 2024, Pacific’s media department sent 13 students to South by Southwest, the annual media festival in Austin, Texas. It’s a chance to screen the new media, network and to get advice on projects and careers.  

Among those students were Enriquez and Bloom, who brought a teaser trailer for “Rhythm.”  Their conversations with professionals convinced them it had bigger potential.  

“We were so inspired by all the films, all the creatives in the area and all the advice we were given about our project,” Enriquez says. “We decided to increase the length, drop it as a spec ad and create a story. That really meant it could impact so many lives.” 

The team kept filming Kennedy, even following him to the Gospel Music Workshop of America in Memphis, Tennessee. As the team worked on “Rhythm,” they put their education to use and built up their skills.  

Bloom, the director and producer, says his media production degree prepared him for the technical matters, but shooting the documentary has strengthened his soft skills.  

“One thing I didn’t know much about before starting the project was really how to interview people and how to structure a story in a way where it’s digestible and understandable,” he says.  

Enriquez, the producer, wore a lot of hats while handling on- and off-set logistics. The experience built up her leadership abilities, especially as she raised money for “Rhythm.” She says it’s also improved her skills at managing a team.  

The team didn’t do it alone, though. Bloom and Enriquez highlight mentorship at Pacific as an essential part of the process.  

Mentorship that matters 

The team says Pacific faculty have offered invaluable advice about the project, often giving viewpoints from other creative perspectives.  

“I’ve gotten some from my graphic design professor,” Enriquez says. “I’ve gotten some from my adviser, from Professor Joshua Salyers. It’s important to have support like that because it makes you feel like you’re really creating change.” 

On top of faculty mentorship, Enriquez also highlights the opportunities the department offers to its students. This year, she’ll be going to the Cannes Film Festival in France with the department.  

“Opportunities like that don’t come easily,” she says. “So, it’s really great that they give those opportunities to students because it’s really valuable in shaping who you are and what you want to be.” 

As for “Rhythm,” the team hopes to finish and release it by August of this year. They’re currently working on a crowdfunding campaign to secure funds for post-production costs and hope it’ll be part of the 2026 film festival circuit.  

At its core is a story they hope will touch educators everywhere, regardless of whether they’re still working or retired. 

“Floyd’s story is a lot more than just drumming or gospel drumming,” Bloom says. “His faith is at his core, but he’s been using it to impact literally thousands of students. That’s the story we’re trying to tell.” 

University of the Pacific emphasizes hands-on learning, so that you’ll enter the job market with career-ready skills. Sometimes those projects even lead to something bigger, like these Pacific media production students whose documentary “Rhythm” started as a senior project.  

Lucy Carpenter ’22 

Current job: Player Social Coordinator, MLB 
Major: Media arts and production, communications minor 
Hometown: Singapore 
Sports: Women’s volleyball and beach volleyball 
Favorite places in Stockton: Gian’s Deli, Market Tavern 

When you turn on a Major League Baseball game, you’ll see dozens of athletes in peak physical condition going head-to-head. What you don’t see, though, are the people behind the scenes who handle the other aspects of MLB’s day-to-day operations.  

You might think of coaches, physical trainers or meal planners. There are also plenty of people who do jobs you might not have thought of. For example, consider player social coordinators. They’re the people who help your favorite MLB player fill their social media with their best moments. 

“We coordinate custom content for all the guys in the league,” says Lucy Carpenter ’22, who earned a degree in media arts and production with a minor in communication. “So, we work with the video editors and graphic designers to create custom videos, highlights and recap videos for them to post on their Instagrams and TikToks.”  

For Carpenter, who was a dual sport athlete throughout her time at University of the Pacific, working in major league sports seems like a natural evolution. You might assume that working for such a big business means you need to arrange your college career around that outcome.  

But that’s not how it played out for Carpenter, who says her education, her sports and internship with Pacific Athletics kept her pretty busy. It was in her senior year, when she applied for an internship with the San Francisco Giants, that her vision started coming together. 

“It made me realize that even if I’m not an athlete after I graduate, I still wanted to be involved with sports. It’s part of my identity. And I thought it would be so cool to contribute to sports, especially from the creative side, which is what I was studying,” Carpenter says.  

Getting a start in professional sports 

Being in Stockton turned out to be a key step in her journey toward MLB. After graduating, Carpenter reached out to the director of communications for the local minor league baseball team, the Stockton Ports. That led to a part-time job in the team’s press box.  

Her experiences at Pacific helped get her foot in the door. Carpenter was pursuing her interests in social media through her communications minor, using the creative skills she was learning for her media arts and production degree. That had also helped her during a Pacific Athletics internship, where she worked in a baseball press box and created content for their social media.  

Those experiences helped her identify an opportunity for the Ports. 

“I expressed my interest in social media. I knew they had social media pages, but they didn’t really have anybody running them,” Carpenter says.  

After a few weeks of working with the Ports part-time, the team asked her to run its social media. That led to a full-time internship and turned into a job at the end of the season.  

One lesson Carpenter highlights about her time with Pacific Athletics and the Ports: keep an eye open for opportunity and go after it when you see it. That attitude is what helped her land her current role.  

Working with Major League Baseball 

She was looking for a job with a Major League Baseball team when she came across a listing for an MLB player social coordinator. With the 2023 baseball season looming, Carpenter applied. About three weeks later, was coordinating content for MLB players’ social media profiles. 

Even at the national level, Carpenter points out that her work still has Central Valley ties. 

“Aaron Judge is from Linden, which is near Stockton. And he is one of the guys we work with a lot,” she says. “After every series win the Yankees have, we provide Aaron Judge a video for his Instagram. So, if you see the little highlight videos that he posts, that’s us.”  

Looking back now, Carpenter jokes about how far she’s come since her first year at Pacific. There’s a lot of pressure on high-school students to start planning their careers, especially if they want to work for a prestigious sports league like MLB. Looking ahead isn’t a bad thing at all, and it can help guide your path to success. But Carpenter’s story emphasizes the importance of the process of getting there, too. 

“Just go for it, right? You never know who you’re going to meet. You never know what it’s going to lead to,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be forever, but it’s a learning opportunity. And it’s going to take you somewhere.” 

 So, it’s important to have a plan, but it’s also important to be adaptable and learn along the way. 

For anyone else interested in working in major league sports, Carpenter says the most important thing is to get involved. 

“Whether it’s event staff working in the press box, or social media or even volunteering,” she says. “That’s a great resume opportunity. It’s really cool being able to work in your college athletic department and it’s also a perfect learning opportunity. That’s a good entry-level step. It doesn’t matter if it’s big or small. Take any opportunity you find and create opportunities for yourself if they’re not coming to you.”