When I first had Mr. Marrone, in Art of 6th grade, I was still getting to know all my teachers. Mr. Marrone was super cool, I knew from the instant I met him. He told us of his rap name “Casual T”, he balanced a stool on his nose, and he would say things like aminal instead of animal, which I found sounded cool and contagious. My science teacher even told us about a time she thought that the roof caved in above, but it was really just Mr. Marrone having fun with a class throwing clay at the wall. Regardless, Mr. Marrone always made sure to end his classes with us with something fun.

His incredible personality was not only limited to casual interaction, but was found in his teaching. I remember the very first assignment I had was to copy a horse from a picture. Unlike art in all my previous years, he said to draw it upside down, and played smooth jazz in the background. What made this technique so effective, as Mr. Marrone told us, was that we were focusing on each individual line of the horse and not of the drawing as a whole. I was shocked at what I had drawn. It was something so beyond what I expected in my abilities. I was so inspired by this method of teaching and learning art, that for the only time in my life to date, I actually attempted the same method, of drawing upside down on my own time at home. The ability to get your students to be so taken aback by a lesson, that they actually dedicate their own time to pursuing it is the mark of a phenomenal teacher.

As the months grew past, I began to find bits and pieces of Mr. Marrone in my daily life, without even realizing it. Whenever I see a stool, I think of balancing it on my nose. I am actually a bit fascinated now with the idea of balancing different objects, all because of that awesome trick Mr. Marrone did. I also tried to come up with my own rap name. Another time, when I was in the main office, I saw Mr. Marrone leaving school immersed with a conversation with a few teachers. Not that it was out of the norm, but Mr. Marrone acted so friendly to everyone, and I got the impression that this was the way Mr. Marrone was with everyone.

I also remember one assembly when Mr. Wyatt was sharing cool things about each teacher that most people didn’t know about. He mentioned that Mr. Marrone was a certified genius. I was immediately taken aback, not because I was at all surprised, but because Mr. Marrone had never even hinted of it. How can someone with something so remarkable, never even hint at it? Mr. Marrone was just that humble. He never felt the need to act as though he was better than everyone else, and even when students asked him about being a genius, he would never talk about it as though it was someone special.

The day I heard of his passing, after quite a lot of profound sadness, I was curious enough to Google search “Todd Marrone”. Whatever in my conscience compelled me to do so, I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw. Not only did I read an inspiring biography on Mr. Marrone’s website, but I saw his TEDxTalk at Harriton. What I took away was 1) There is no right answer 2) We, as kids have the power, the skills, and the resources to get after it and do something big right now. Mr. Marrone was able to take two huge issues (problems with education and purpose of young people) and give an answer to each in a matter of minutes. The ideas Mr. Marrone mentioned in his talk are ideas I myself have thought about on many occasions and to see someone else stand by them, regardless of what else I knew about that person, is indicative of their remarkable intelligence and humanity.

Without knowing any of Mr. Marrone’s family, I can say with absolute certainty knowing Mr. Marrone himself, that they are incredibly intelligent and will no doubt carry on the legacy of one of the best teachers and people in this society, Mr. Marrone.