Kevin John Peters is a radio, television and film professor guiding students in his Monday and Wednesday broadcast journalism classes, but during the evenings he steps in front of the camera as a sports anchor for ABC10.

One of the most noticeable qualities about John is his enthusiasm as an anchor and a professor.

“In the classroom, my enthusiasm comes from the fact that I get to work with students and mentor them and help these guys out and get them to places that they want to go,” John said. “And if that doesn’t wake you up in the morning, I don’t know what will.”

When John first saw the opportunity to become a professor at Cosumnes River College, he said he immediately applied because of his passion for teaching the next generation of broadcasters.

“Everyone is here in my class, not just to learn about journalism, not just to hear my lectures, but they’re here to know how to get a job in this field,” John said.

John said he emphasizes preparing students to know what to expect in the real world because broadcast and print journalism is constantly evolving.

In the newsroom, John said his enthusiasm comes from his struggle entering the journalism industry.

Before his career at ABC10 and as a professor, John said he faced hundreds of rejections from newsrooms across the country but eventually received his first break as a sports anchor for Media Gateway in Little Rock, Arkansas.

“I just remember my first day when I got to the station,” John said. “Walking into the studio and seeing the bright lights, seeing the cameras, seeing the co-anchor sitting there with my scripts, I sat down there to give my first sportscast, that was like a surreal moment.”

A resilient and unwavering attitude, tenacity and ambition attributed to his successful career today, John said.

“I was tired of being broke,” John said. “You know, when you’re hungry and you’re broke and you’re starving, there’s nothing that’ll motivate you more than having an empty stomach.”

Matt George, a sports anchor for ABC10 who has worked with John for the last three years, said John’s authenticity is what stands out most.

“Who he appears on TV is exactly who he is,” George said. “The energy is not forced, not fake, who he is to the students, the big heart, the kindness, the jokes, that is who he is at all times.”

George said there was a pile of new toys about the height of a desk in their shared office during the first December they worked as colleagues.

“Those were toys that Kevin went out and purchased with his own money and donated to families at Christmas time in his hometown Stockton,” George said.

John’s authenticity allows him to cover local sports stories with the same dedication as professional sports games, George said.

“He’ll attack those big moments, those big games and opportunities in life, he’ll treat those the same way he treats the other stories,” George said, “He’s done stories on a grandmother basketball league, he’s done stories on these obscure things that happen in sports.”

Nineteen-year-old communications major River Kenneth is a student in John’s class and has shadowed him during four different professional games.

“I’m just constantly trying to improve my professionalism and really, he’s good at putting me in those environments,” Kennth said. “Whether it’s shadowing or just like the people he’s introduced to me to.”

Kenneth said he has interviewed high profiled individuals like Bryce James, the son of LeBron James, through shadowing John.

Courtney Ramirez, an instructional assistant in the RTVF department, said she helps John with checking out media equipment, setting up Canvas and the studio control room. She has noticed that more students are interested in the journalistic side of broadcast television because of John.

“They actually like trying to be in front of the camera, where most of our people want to be behind the camera and not in front of,” Ramirez said.

John earned a bachelor’s degree for theater and English, but later enrolled at Kent State University to obtain his master’s in mass communications and journalism.

“I think theater helped him provide direction for people,” Ramirez said.

John said he doesn’t want to be remembered for being “just a sportscaster” or a professor.

“I want to be remembered as someone who is always of service and who constantly worked hard to better the lives of others and to make an impact on others,” John said. “If at the end of the day, that’s what I’m remembered as, then I know I did my job on planet Earth.”