With a pitch black blazer and one leg crossed over the other, he silently observes the scene unfolding before him, like a spy from a James Bond film. While villains plot and loyalties are questioned, he smiles slowly to himself in the shadows of the room. As the final scene of peer Ethan Choi (12)’s spy film, “Operation Strikesite,” comes to a close and the ending credits start to roll, Marcos Acero (12) begins to clap, standing up from his seat among the cast in the front row.

At the age of 8, Marcos started experimenting with filmmaking, creating short stop-motion films using Lego pieces. With a determined mindset and a vast amount of creativity, he immersed himself into his projects purely for enjoyment. 

“Our equipment was pretty bad, but we basically rearranged the set very slightly for every single frame and added the frames up to make a moving picture,” Marcos said. “For Legos, we would make a set and then move each piece meticulously. It took a lot of time, but it was really fun.”

Marcos’s knack for keeping everyone on task and his willingness to work outside his comfort zone allowed the cast to produce the film efficiently.

Although serious when needed, Marcos often displays his unique humor when making jokes around his friends. In the past, he tried to be perfect in all of his endeavors, which didn’t allow him to interact with his friends as much. 

“In middle school, I took my work very seriously and I was unnecessarily perfectionistic. I would work very extensively on the small details of assignments. It was essentially the only thing I would do. Originally, I thought talking to people and socializing was relatively unnecessary,” Marcos said.

Eventually, Marcos’s brother Nick Acero (‘18) introduced him to video games, a medium through which Marcos could establish connections with new people and display his true personality.

“[Introducing me to video games is] the most impactful thing my family and friends have done. It allowed me to recognize the true value of spending time with others. Now, I tend to notice the way people communicate with each other or how they act around each other more. These experiences have actually shaped my quirky humor and personality,” Marcos said.

As a member of the varsity boys soccer team, Marcos always lightens the mood during team discussions before and after games. His persistence shines through on the field, allowing him to successfully defend against the opponents’ best players. Even when the other team’s striker was much larger than Marcos, he never succumbs to the pressure and makes it extremely difficult for that player to have a meaningful impact on the game. His overall toughness provides a strong influence for the younger members of the team, helping them improve their skills. 

“It’s very rare that I find a time where Marcos isn’t laughing or smiling about something,” Chance Hewitt (12), one of Marcos’s teammates on the varsity boys soccer team, said. “This past year, he really stepped up into leadership. He was more vocal on the field, helping the sophomores and even the one freshman on the team.”

Marcos’s penchant for learning is evident in both the improvements made to the various movies he works on and the changes he applies to his soccer performances after seeing how he played previously during film study sessions. 

“Marcos is one of the most diligent students I know. His homework was meticulous, to the point where I was a little concerned that he was spending too much time on it,” Lisa Radice, Marcos’s sophomore year AP Physics 2 teacher, said. “But, he told me that he liked spending time on his homework. He saw it more as a puzzle or a learning opportunity. The more he learned, the more interested he got.”

In the future, Marcos hopes to pioneer his own films in order to implement his own visions. He will draw upon his experiences starring in and helping produce movies to perfect his storylines. From stop motion clips to playing crucial roles in actual movies, Marcos’s tenacity allowed him to pursue his passion in filmmaking.

“I like making stories and converting them into events that could actually happen,” Marcos said. “A lot of aspects of filming that I enjoyed were things that my friends developed and … going forward, I would [like to] make my own films. I would drive the plot more from my own thinking. It’s something I like to think about often.”