David Rieger

Student

“My education at SMC has spanned sub-atomic particles to quasars and everything in between—including classical flamenco guitar.”

David Rieger has a rare gift for the spoken word which he attributes to “my mother, who read to me from the very earliest.” But he initially viewed himself as a visual artist. “I wanted to be a sociological photographer,” he says. “But I didn’t want to be impeded by the business side of it, so I decided to major in political science.” This decision will undoubtedly be applauded by his family which includes large numbers of lawyers and a judge. “I’ve pretty much decided to be a prosecutor or enter the foreign service in the diplomatic corps,” says David, who will transfer to Berkeley this fall. But his road to academic excellence wasn’t always a smooth one.

It might surprise some to know that this scholarship winner and member of the SMC Honors Society dropped out of high school. “I couldn’t submit to the rigors of public education,” he recalls. He ended up as a pharmaceutical technician, but quickly passed his equivalency exam. “The result was that—when I felt I’d matured enough emotionally—I came to SMC, the same year my graduating class arrived. So I didn’t miss a step.” And he’s not lost any since.

David says that “SMC is the catalyst that turned my life around. And I must thank Professor John Bowles in math who taught me critical thinking and analysis. Words cannot express…,” says David, at a loss—for once—of what may well become his stock-in-trade. As to the future? “I hope to apply the ideas I’ve learned here to the world at large,” says David. “Hopefully, this will somehow lead me to helping people find the unity that is so necessary if we’re to build a healthy, dynamic society.”

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