Have you ever had a moment at SMC that made you feel truly seen? We’d love to hear your story! Tell us about a meaningful interaction with a classmate, professor, or staff member that made an impact on you.
Your story could be featured in our #WhereWeMatter campaign to remind our community that every connection counts. đź’™
Learn more: smc.edu/wherewematter
#WhereWeMatter #WeAreSMC #ProudToBeSMC
Stay connected with SMC GO 📲 Opt in to your favorite channels to get updates, reminders, and campus info tailored to you. #SMC #SantaMonicaCollege #SMCGO
Big congratulations to SMC student Martin Orea on this incredible achievement đź‘Ź
Martin Orea was named one of the 2026 recipients of the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship from The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation (@thejkcf ). Orea—a first-generation college student from Fullerton, and a student leader—is among 60 community college student recipients nationwide, selected from a semifinalist pool of 485 students.
Orea plans on transferring to Georgetown University to pursue their new joint program in public policy, where he will spend two years at the McCourt School of Public Policy to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy.
Read more about Martin’s accomplishments, his future plans, and his mentors at smc.edu/news.
#ProudToBeSMC #TransferSuccess #FirstGenerationStudent
SMC showed up in force at Frieze Los Angeles, where 22 student interns engaged with top galleries and collectors, established artists (including four SMC alum) and 32,000 visitors at this world-class art fair.
Read more in the latest issue of SMC in Focus: smc.edu/smcinfocus
#SMCInFocus #ProudToBeSMC
SMC IxD Students Win 3rd Place in USC Hackathon!🥉
At RealityShift: XR Hackathon for Social Good, a 14-hour extended reality (XR) hackathon hosted by Shift SC, students across engineering, design, and business came together to build XR-based solutions for real-world social challenges.
We had a team of senior IxD students (Aino Halonen, Fernando Herrera, Alexander Johnson and Harmony S) participate, and they won 3rd place in the main track!
Their project explored the environmental and community impacts of AI data center placement across the U.S., building a 1,000+ site dataset and connecting it with EPA, CDC, and Census data.
Their research surfaced a clear pattern: the burdens of AI infrastructure are often pushed onto lower-income, more diverse neighboring counties.
With thousands of new data centers planned, their work raises a critical question. What are we optimizing for? …technological progress or human flourishing?
đź‘Ź Proud of our students and their win, and grateful to @realityshift.sc and @shift.sc for an incredible event.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month đź’š Prioritize your well-being, check in with yourself, and support one another.
Resources are here for you: smc.edu/wellness
#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth
Hey Corsairs đź‘‹ Looking to join a student club? Club Row is the perfect place to meet new people and discover your community on campus!
Join us tomorrow, May 7, from 11:15 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. at SMC’s Main Campus Quad for our Spring Club Row 🌿 Enjoy music, prizes, food, and find the club that’s right for you!
#SMCClubRow #ProudToBeSMC
Rails founder Jeff Abrams brings scholarship support and industry insights to SMC students as they pattern careers in fashion.
Read more in the latest issue of SMC in Focus: smc.edu/smcinfocus
#SMCInFocus #ProudToBeSMC
SMC IxD x OpenSeed: Redefining Rituals ✨
Our IxD seniors just wrapped their partnership with @theopenseed , creators of immersive meditation pods, to imagine new possibilities for mindfulness, habit-building, and wellness experiences.
Through this collaboration, students investigated how the meditation pod experience can support both single sessions and repeated use over time, in multiple real-world contexts:
- Residential
- Hospitality
- Spas
- High-stress environments
- Academic settings
They proposed service-level concepts to help OpenSeed evolve a connected, thoughtful meditation experience before, during, and after each pod session.
“It’s great that we now have material to seed that effort.” - Vids (Co-founder of OpenSeed)
Huge thanks to OpenSeed co-founders, Vids Samanta (@vids.samanta ) and Jonathan Marcoschamer (@yonimarcos ), for spending time with our students, sharing feedback, and inspiring the next generation of designers.
May is Foster Youth Awareness Month! đź’™
At Santa Monica College, we’re committed to uplifting current and former foster youth through our NextUP and Guardian Scholars programs. By fostering connection, support, and opportunity, these programs empower students to reach their academic and personal goals.
Learn more about our Foster Youth Support Services: smc.edu/fosterservices
#FosterYouthAwarenessMonth #ProudToBeSMC
