Tony Prestby

SMC Staff

“I take a lot of pride in helping students because, when I first came here, someone had to drag me by the hand.”

“I started at SMC right out of high school,” says Tony Prestby. “I was a student worker while I studied in the theatre arts department. I was going to be this wonderful actor, so I took three years of acting. I ended up with over 100 units of theatre arts and about three units of general education. So now,” he says with an easy laugh, “I’m what my boss calls ‘every counselor’s nightmare!’”

But Tony found that the rejection that’s built into an acting career was “something I just couldn’t handle.” So Hollywood’s loss became SMC’s gain when he started working full-time in the admissions office in 1986. “My job,” he says, “is people. I’m the guy at the front counter; the first one they meet when they come in. And you can always tell the new ones,” he says. “Their faces have that ‘I don’t-know-if-I-should-be-here’ look. And it’s my job to say ‘Hi. Welcome to SMC. What can I do for you?’”

Tony says that his work with EOPS students is among his most important. “A lot of our students face financial obstacles and are first generation college students,” he says. “I regard each one of them as a success story, just for getting up the nerve to come in and apply.” Tony says that “even a hundred dollars’ worth of books can be the greatest gift to these students. It can make all the difference for them.” But Tony himself received a gift from SMC that—at a critical time in his life—made all the difference.

“Both my parents died on the same weekend,” he recalls. “And I got this huge card that was signed by everyone on campus. It made me realize I had an extended family here—people who cared about me—that I could never find anywhere else.”

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