The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s seventh annual Marisa Tufaro Memorial Community Service Scholarship will be awarded to a senior (Class of 2024) who as a Middlesex County resident or as a student at a Middlesex County high school has demonstrated a commitment to helping children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation will issue at least one $1,000 Marisa Tufaro Memorial Community Service Scholarship before the conclusion of the 2023-24 academic year.
Conditions of Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for the Marisa Tufaro Memorial Community Service Scholarship:
- Must be a college-bound senior or a senior planning to attend a vocational or trade school who resides in Middlesex County or attends a Middlesex County high school with a cumulative unweighted grade point average of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale
- Must have helped children in need anywhere throughout the greater Middlesex County area through volunteerism and/or a community-service project(s) which occurred at any time from September 2019 to the date of scholarship application
Mandatory Application Materials Checklist
Omission of any of the items listed below will make the applicant ineligible for the scholarship:
- Scholarship applicants are required to write an essay explaining in detail how they helped children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area, how helping those children made them feel, why it is important to assist children in need and the impact their service had on children.
- Scholarship applicants are required to provide two letters of recommendation from non-relatives. One letter must be an academic reference. The other letter can be a personal or community service reference. The letter writers must include their contact information (full name, affiliation, email address and phone number).
- Scholarship applicants must include their full name, high school, cumulative grade point average, phone number, email address and home address at the top of their essay.
Selection Process
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s scholarship selection committee will review all application materials and select the scholarship recipient.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation may publish, with the winner’s permission, certain general information including the winner’s name, educational background, community service and future educational plans.
Scholarship Conditions
Should the winner be a college-bound senior, the scholarship may only be used for tuition, fees, books, and room and board. Verification of college enrollment and proof of proper use of the funds will be required.
Should the winner be a senior planning to attend a vocational or trade school, the scholarship may only be used for tuition, fees, books and tools of the trade. Verification of vocational or trade school enrollment and proof of proper use of the funds will be required.
Who is Eligible
Middlesex County residents and students attending Middlesex County high schools who meet the conditions of eligibility listed above.
Students who reside outside of Middlesex County and attend a Middlesex County high school, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas in Edison, St. Joseph in Metuchen or The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, are eligible for the scholarship.
A Middlesex County resident who attends a high school outside of Middlesex County, such as the Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset County or Mother Seton Regional in Union County, is also eligible for the scholarship.
Middlesex County residents who attend a high school outside of Middlesex County under New Jersey’s Interdistrict Public School Choice Program are also eligible.
How to Apply
Please be sure to mail all of the items outlined in the mandatory application materials checklist to:
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation
P.O. Box 10625
New Brunswick, NJ 08906
All scholarship application materials must be postmarked by April 30, 2024.
All of the items listed on the mandatory application materials checklist must be mailed simultaneously in one envelope. Separate mailings of materials will disqualify scholarship applicants from consideration.