Meet the Teacher:  Anthony Mariano

Meet the Teacher:  Anthony Mariano
Subject:  Music
Grades:   7 – 12

Mr. Mariano was  born in Montreal and spent his formative years in Houston, before moving to Toronto for most of his elementary years and all of high school. He moved to Montreal to attend McGill and has returned to Toronto since.

Anthony is a first generation Filipino-Canadian, although he does not speak Tagalog or any of the regional dialects.  He has a younger sister in digital marketing, hard working and caring parents and numerous close cousins. He has family members across North America, as well as some in Paris and back in the Philippines.

Mr. Mariano has various interests outside of the classroom.  He likes watching and playing sports, along with working out and swimming.  He also tries to make time each week to refine his saxophone and piano skills and was playing in community bands prior to the pandemic.  He can often be caught watching a good comedy (recent releases and nostalgic), any Star Wars movie or singing and dancing to 90s music videos.

Anthony attended Royal St. George’s College, another CIS school like Crestwood.  While getting involved in school life and making lifelong friends were top priority, it was really the teachers who not only pushed him to be his best, but also made each class interesting and worthwhile.  He spent almost 10 summers working at a camp with children and youth ranging from daycare aged to teenagers. That also played a significant role in his development of an interest in teaching.  It was his music teachers, both in school and university, that inspired him to return to the band room, a place where he feels at ease and relaxed.

During his short time at Crestwood, Mr. Mariano has had fun interactions with the staff outside of class time and enjoyed hearing the students say hello or good morning, Mr. Mariano.  It’s also cool to be recognized by students who knew him from camp and other schools where he was a supply teacher before coming to Crestwood.

In addition to being musical (playing instruments and singing), his secret talents range from doing voice and physical impressions to re-enacting 90s pop music videos (singing and dancing).  He hopes there’s a lip sync coming soon.

Mr. Mariano roots for the following teams: Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets (NBA), Montreal Canadiens (NHL), New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (big Tom Brady fan) and the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros (MLB).  These teams, with the exception of football, reflect cities where he previously lived.