Heather Andrejcak and Isabella Vallaro were honored as recipients of the fifth annual Woodbridge High School Marisa Tufaro Memorial Scholarship during a ceremony at Nicholas A Priscoe Stadium earlier this month.
Through its benevolence, Woodbridge High School fully funds the scholarship in Marisa’s honor and memory.
The scholarship is awarded to two exceptional college-bound seniors who strive for excellence academically, athletically, or in the arts, who overcame adversity (not limited to medical challenges) and who epitomize the caring spirit that Marisa’s family believes makes the Woodbridge school community special.
More than 120 students who were celebrated during the ceremony will receive scholarships totaling more than $67,000.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation is honored that the annual Woodbridge High School memorial scholarships are awarded to two recipients who embody Marisa’s indomitable spirit.
Vallaro, who will attend Villanova University and aspires to become a pediatric nurse, has fought a winning battle with brain cancer, with which she was first diagnosed six years ago. After suffering a seizure, Vallaro underwent a series of tests and treatments. Chemotherapy helped stabilize a tumor doctors opted against removing because of its location.
Andrejcak, who will attend Penn State University, where she will be a member of the college’s cheerleading squad, is battling Chron’s disease. An inflammatory bowel disease that can be both painful and debilitating, Chron’s disease can lead to abdominal pain, fatigue, weight loss, malnutrition, and other complications, some of which may be life-threatening.
Neither of the outstanding seniors, who both graduated last week from Woodbridge, where they were teammates on the varsity cheerleading squad, allow themselves to be defined by their respective illnesses.
“They both have had their own unique hardships,” Woodbridge cheerleading coach Krikit Gulics said. “It was very important that they live their lives not defined by those hardships; that they could be the person that they needed to be. They just wanted to be seen as no different from their peers. The fact that they could do that in the face of overcoming adversity was incredible. I’m not sure the average person could have done those things. It wouldn’t surprise me that a large portion of the (high school) population also doesn’t really know the things that they have gone through.”
Gulics said Andrejcak and Vallaro served as the “go-to” members of the cheerleading squad, a tandem on which the coach could always rely to ensure events from practice to youth clinics functioned smoothly.
“They were always the go-to people to make sure things were running perfectly,” said Gulics, noting Andrejcak and Vallaro are both “incredibly dependable.”
“For as different as they are, they are so incredibly similar,” Gulics said. “They definitely embody what it means to be a Woodbridge High School Barron and to represent the school in an honorable way. They definitely took very seriously the pride that they wanted others to have in their school. That was very apparent and always evident.”
Gulics said Andrejcak is “incredibly motivated and super-excited to be a part of the Penn State cheerleading program.”
“When I got her as a freshman, you could always see things start as a dream,” Gulics said. “It’s very seldom you get to watch a dream that a kid has as a freshman actually manifest itself into something that can be a reality. She is the epitome of that, and Penn State is a great example. They have a very talented Division I cheerleading program, and she easily found her place in that program.”
A member of the National Honor Society and Woodbridge’s reigning Homecoming Queen, Andrejcak also competed in track and field at the high school.
Vallaro, who also received a separate Marisa Tufaro Memorial Community Service Scholarship from The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, and Gulics first met when the former was a participant in the township’s recreational cheerleading program.
“I’ve seen her transform form this timid, very shy little girl,” Gulics said. “I got to watch Bella demand for people to step aside and not treat her any differently (because of her diagnosis).”
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s leadership is honored to have Vallaro and Andrejcak as recipients of a scholarship bearing the moniker of the nonprofit’s namesake.
Marisa Tufaro, who would have been a senior this year at Edison High School, was born with a complex cardiac defect that required six open-heart surgeries. She developed two life-threatening conditions that necessitated a heart transplant. The transplant was supposed to extend her life, but tragically cut it short when a postoperative complication developed into a rare form of blood cancer to which Marisa succumbed following a valiant battle on Jan. 30, 2017. She was just 13 years old.
Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctor’s appointments, Marisa lived a vibrant life that inspired.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation is eternally grateful for the support it has received from Woodbridge High School, which has hosted the Greater Middlesex Conference All-Star basketball doubleheader, the Tecmo Bowl for Tufaro, a Pictures with Santa event, and sponsored the Marisa Tufaro Classic bowling tournament as fundraisers.
In addition, the school community has donated money raised from a dress down day and the entire gate from its football team’s 2018 and 2019 home openers to our nonprofit.
Countless student-athletes from multiple sports have participated in other events that benefitted The Marisa Tufaro Foundation.
Donations from administrators, faculty, staff, and parents have enabled our nonprofit to fulfill its mission of helping pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
In less than four years, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has donated more than $200,000 and spearheaded multiple community initiatives, resulting in the collection of thousands of toys, winter coats, baby supplies, nonperishable food, and other items upon which we place no monetary value.
Woodbridge High School has played an enormous and vital role in that outreach.
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation would like to extend its sincere appreciation and deepest gratitude to Woodbridge High School Principal Glenn Lottmann, the Board of Education, the high school’s guidance department, its scholarship selection committee, faculty, and staff.
We wish all the graduating seniors continued success in their future endeavors and will ask Marisa to watch over them.
We hope the gift Woodbridge High School has given Marisa’s family, which is the ability to keep alive her memory and to honor her legacy through this scholarship, will be returned exponentially.