Recently, we questioned Anthony Marro, the dean of the class of 2028 about Fieldston and his own fun facts. First, he was asked how long he has been at ECFS. “I have been at ECFS since 2009, I was a P.E. teacher and a health teacher,” Mr. Marro explains. We all wonder what his favorite thing about being a Form III dean is. He answers, “There are so many things I love about being a form lll dean. One thing is having the opportunity to get to know all of the students. It’s amazing, there are many really talented students. I learn more from them than I think I could teach them. I really like connecting with families. The longer I’m here the more I appreciate connecting with families because at the end of the day we are all doing the same thing and trying to support the students to have the best experience of their high school so I’d really like getting to know families as well.” How lucky is the form III to work with one amazing dean!
As we all know, the transition into high school can be challenging. Dean Marro has some words of advice: “Embrace the awkwardness. Ninth grade is hard, and is certainly a big step up academically. It’s also challenging to find the people who you can connect with. I think we always want to go to the people who are familiar to us, but if I had to give the most important advice it’s to talk to everybody, be nice to everyone because you never know who’s going to be your best friend.” Not only does this advice apply to ninth graders, but to all high school students. High school is a transition period, so whether you are a senior or a freshman, this advice can alter your perspective on the high school experience.
Moving forward, we asked Dean Marro for one school policy he agrees with and one he disagrees with. His responses will shock most teachers and students. To start with the positive, he agrees that assemblies are the most important part of being a student at Fieldston Upper. He thinks that assemblies are a time to learn about different cultures, take a break, and enjoy the process of learning without having to worry about a grade. This is where the policy he disagrees with comes into play. Dean Marro strongly disagrees with the policy of having grades. He thinks that when students are doing school work, they do not focus on the process of learning but rather the final grade. He thinks that students would greatly benefit from not having grades, because it would teach them to learn how to learn, and not just learn for a test or to get a good grade.
Finally, moving on to some fun fact questions. “What is your favorite music genre?” we asked. Dean Marro says, “90s hip-hop is probably my favorite, I think it’s one of the best eras of hip-hop. I also love classic rock, Creedence Clearwater Revival is one of my favorite classic rock groups. I also like 90s grunge, sometimes I feel like I need it in my life.”
The second fun question was, “If you had to eat one savory and one sweet food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” “I would eat frozen chocolate covered bananas, anything frozen with chocolate is good, and for savory it would be my older sister’s lasagna.” How many people reading this like frozen fruit dipped in chocolate? I know we do! Lastly, we asked him how he would rate his highschool experience on a scale of 1-10. He said that he would rate it a solid 5 because he did not care much about school or show up often, but it was not a terrible experience for him. He tells all the Fieldston Upper students how lucky we are to attend such an amazing school and get a fabulous education. We hope you learned something about the Form III Dean, Mr. Marro, and remember to go to his office whenever you want- he is always open to talking to his students.
