Fall — 2004
cover stories
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Dr. Bill WernerSMC Student 1949-50,
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“Well, my dad taught at SMC for 40 years. So, did I have a choice of where I’d spend my first two years of college? Absolutely not!” “SMC at the time I was there—as it continues to do now—had the best instructors you could possibly wish for in the first two years of college,” says Bill Werner. “But more than that, they had great athletic programs, and I was on the SMC tennis team that won the Metro League when I was there.” But past SMC glories aside, Bill has become a tireless advocate in advancing the College’s ability to continue to excel in the future. “My dad actually wrote the bylaws for the SMC Foundation around 1956, and we continue to provide something like half a million dollars a year in scholarships, including the Dale Ride Internship that sends our students to Washington, DC, to learn the inner workings of our government. And I think it’s important that students are aware of these scholarships. They may not be the biggest grants,” adds Bill, “maybe $1,000 or so. But we offer a lot of them and they just help to ensure that SMC continues to be the best school—possibly in the entire country—to send students on to the university systems.” For over 48 years, Bill has practiced dentistry in Santa Monica. “And over these years I’ve taken care of a lot of SMC professors. But you know what? The bottom line here is that SMC is a wonderful school no matter how you’re involved with it. The fundamentals that you learn at this College are phenomenal,” says Bill. “When you’re in a major university, you don’t necessarily have a full professor teaching your class. They have to be doing research. But at SMC,” he continues “you’re getting a professor who’s doing whatever he or she is doing because they love it. Maybe you’re not in a fraternity with all the perks or you don’t have the number one football team in America. Who cares about that when you can get the best two years of college offered anywhere?” Back |
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