College newspapers, like the one you’re reading now, can be an important and helpful tool for anyone looking to become more informed about various events, services, faculty, and more. While The Campus newspaper is proudly student-driven, reported, and published, there is one professor responsible for providing guidance, assistance, and learning opportunities while the students develop their reporting repertoires. Professor Aaron Rothkopf, who teaches every Journalism course the College of the Sequoias has to offer, believes that student-led papers play a pivotal role in ensuring that other students stay well-informed with contemporary and relevant news. He states: “The students are the backbone of the campus. They know what’s going on, they know what’s important, they know what issues they want to see”.

Having grown up in Arcadia, California, Rothkopf graduated from Arcadia High School, obtained his undergrad degree in Journalism from CSU Sacramento and Middlesex University London, England, and a Master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University. Following his education, Rothkopf worked for all three major U.S. news organizations: ABC, CBS, and NBC, where he would win three separate Emmys for the quality of his and his team’s newscasts. Following Rothkopf’s time as a news producer, he moved to Bakersfield to pursue a career at Bakersfield College, and eventually, College of the Sequoias.

Aside from his professional career, Aaron Rothkopf is an avid globetrotter. He’s visited an astonishing 48 U.S. states and 77 countries with no plans of stopping any time soon.

“Michigan and Wisconsin are the last two states . . . and I want to get to 100 countries”, Rothkopf adds.

With such extensive and time-consuming activities filling his professional and personal schedules, Professor Rothkopf finds organization to be paramount in managing his life. How does one keep track of teaching multiple classes at two different colleges and still find the time for personal pursuits like travel? Rothkopf states, “I have a planner, and I use it every day to say ‘where am I going?’ and ‘what am I doing?’. So organization is key for me because I’m juggling so many things”.

Although Rothkopf is a new professor at COS, he is grateful for how welcoming and helpful his colleagues and students have been, and gives praise to the camaraderie of the campus. In his closing remarks, Professor Rothkopf shared, “I’m really excited to be at COS and I’m thankful for the opportunity. To help future journalists is super exciting because I had help when I was aspiring to be a journalist and hopefully I can give the same back to COS students who want to change the world in a journalistic style.”