Pine Crest has a reputation for having some interesting alumni, and Jeff Marx certainly follows suit.  With painted nails (blue on one hand, red on the other), the mouth of a sailor, and a giddy laugh which suggests that still today, his success comes as a surprise to even himself, Jeff breaks the mold of any Pine Crest stereotype. When it comes to Pine Crest alumni, most people picture driven young doctors and lawyers, following the one lane highway with no exits that they set off on long ago. So it may come as a surprise to many that one of the Pine’s most notable alumni, merely stumbled upon his fortune and fame.

As if to jog the memories of his schoolboy days in our hallowed halls, Marx is chauffeured to 1501 NE 62^nd street by his parents, where they are greeted by some familiar faces. Most comforting perhaps, is that of Estes Carns, who sang his praises and fought for him when no one else would. But more important than the old friends are the young students, the people he came to teach. They are a restless, enthusiastic crowd who hum such hits as “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” and “It Sucks to Be Me,” hoping that their honored guest will recognize his own compositions as he walks the halls. These are theater kids, no doubt. They want the secret to success. They want to know how to go from toiling away in Huizenga to winning a Tony award. What path do you follow? What steps exactly do you take?

Though he shared with the packed audience of PA-105 some tricks to writing a musical, he did not come to teach the Pine  Crest Fine Arts students how to become stars. Instead, he openly shared his more valuable life experiences and revelations. He candidly told of his struggles with relationships and depression despite the fact that he was making millions, emphasizing one of his main points that money does not buy happiness. He assured everyone that their life plan would change several times-he went from being a musical theater major to studying law to taking a songwriting class and writing a hit Broadway musical by fluke-and that that was okay. He affirmed that from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success; his first attempt at writing a musical was rejected but that only gave him the gumption to write something better. The audience learned that, though he may be funny, Tray Parker of South Park is not someone to collaborate with. This was detailed through Marx’s account of his debacle with being kicked off the Book of Mormon team and having his name stripped from the project that was his brain child, and losing his best friend. And last, but not least, Marx recalled his Pine Crest days of being chosen last in gym, being a closeted gay, and repeating eighth grade.

The afternoon was exciting and the instagram spam extreme, but more than the thrill of meeting a famous person, the Pine Crest students in PA-105 that day learned some enduring lessons about life and realized what we so often overlook: SAT scores and good grades are not the highest measure of success (even though his were excellent and he stressed doing well in school) and the number of zeros on a paycheck are not an indication of happiness. So just do what makes you happy (within reason) and….you know the rest.