Art Verge

College Friend

“I enjoy sharing the truth with students. And they themselves have made it all a euphoric exchange.”

“I’m going to retire and enjoy the good life,” says Art Verge who first came to SMC in 1964. But then he adds, in the same breath, “Of course, this summer I’ll be teaching history and humanities in France. And on Thursdays I’ll be teaching in the SEEK program (for working adults returning to education) and I’ll be teaching another U.S. History class…” This is retirement? you might ask. But then, for Art Verge, “the good life” was always the one he found in the classroom.

“You went into teaching because you liked it,” he says in his characteristic second-person. “It’s just too good a life; so I’ve been spoiled and I loved every minute of it.” Art began his role as teacher at a very early age on the beaches of Santa Monica. “I was a lifeguard and I took the junior lifeguards along in tow, showing them the ropes,” he recalls. And since then he’s shown “the ropes” to a couple of generations at SMC teaching history. “I spent 13 years as registrar,” he says. “And a lot of my time in that job was spent solving problems of kids who had poor experiences somewhere along the line. And it was always good to be able to give them a second chance.”

Art witnessed the turbulence of the 60s and 70s and praises the students of today for their continued enthusiasm for making a better world. “Today they’re more conservative, in a positive sense,” he says. “And I just want to see them all fulfill their goals.” Art says that, “SMC has given me such great colleagues. And we’ve always been united in wanting self-fulfillment for our students: intellectual, artistic or in very practical things. You’re the luckiest person in the world to work or study here. And I think we really have made a college for all people.”

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