Beset with injuries and other obstacles, Alexis Broggi, a three-sport athlete who served as team captain in each, was unable to truly hit her stride as a runner and swimmer until this academic year.

The two constants, however, during the senior’s time as a student-athlete at Piscataway High School have been success in the classroom, where she maintains a 4.26 cumulative grade-point average, and a commitment to community service.

Broggi entered high school with a mindset of helping others, borne from her friendship with Danny Garofalo, an inspirational Middlesex Borough teen who tragically succumbed to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in July 2018 following a courageous battle.

“Danny showed me that not every day is promised, and that we must make every day count,” Broggi said, noting Garofalo “inspires me every day to help others see the good. I am determined to utilize these lessons to make every one of my days count.”

Through her friendship with Garofalo, Broggi became involved with a nonprofit, Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, and helped host an annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser, both designed to heighten awareness and benefit those living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Broggi’s affinity for running stemmed from her participation in 5K and 10K races for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.

A stress fracture and lingering hip injuries as an underclassman prevented Broggi from reaching her full potential until this school year, when she ran a personal best in the Group IV cross country sectional and set personal marks as an outdoor distance runner.

Broggi used strength work and competition in the pool to stay fit when injuries did not allow her to pound the pavement.

The diligence and resilience paid off senior year as Broggi earned 2021 All-Greater Middlesex Conference White Division and team Most Valuable Runner honors in cross country, captained Piscataway’s 2022 outdoor track and field championship squad, and was named the school’s female Greater Middlesex Conference scholar-athlete, a prestigious award reserved for just 34 senior girls across the entire league.

“She is the quintessential student-athlete and I urge all my athletes to follow her lead,” Piscataway track and cross country coach Ashwin Anantharaman said. “Alexis has really shined as team captain. During the summer, she organized captain’s practices, team bonding events and checked in with all athletes on their progress. Alexis can be seen helping others with their running form, warm-up routine and race tactics. This level of dedication has helped Alexis mature into a fiercely competitive athlete who understands her role on the team and her work ethic is the envy of other runners.”

Broggi exhibited similar characteristics in the classroom, where she was a role model for classmates, gravitating toward peers who worked with the same level of dedication as herself.

“Her attitude athletically translates into the classroom,” Anantharaman said. “As her coach, it is my job to talk to her teachers on a consistent basis about her classroom progress. She takes numerous honors and AP classes and maintains an A average on her transcript.”

Recipient of a Marisa Tufaro Foundation Greater Middlesex Conference Student-Athlete Scholarship, Broggi will study Exercise Science and run cross country at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, from which she received an Excelsior Scholarship.

Such scholarships, according to the college, are reserved for students that demonstrate the highest academic marks, rank among the top in their class, have taken the most challenging of curriculums and have made positive contributions within their school and communities.

Broggi’s community service may have commenced with supporting Garofalo and others Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (a multi-systemic condition characterized by the progressive loss of muscle and affecting many parts of the body, resulting in the deterioration of the skeletal, heart and lung muscles) impacts, but it did not end with that specific cause.

Last fall, Broggi created breast cancer awareness T-shirts using original artwork that she and her cross country teammates sold as a fundraiser for Pink Socs Foundation, a nonprofit that assists families battling cancer.

Throughout her scholastic career, Broggi also swam with her teammates to raise money for a nonprofit that assists Middlesex County children in need. In addition, she joined her club swim teammates to collect toys for donation to a local children’s hospital.

The aforementioned spaghetti dinner, which Broggi helped organize and run, not only benefited Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, but also raised money for the Rutgers Dean of Students Emergency Fund. The latter assists students experiencing emergent financial challenges stemming from trauma such as a house fire, loss of a parent, loss of employment, housing and food insecurity. In four years, the spaghetti dinner, held at the Livingston Student Center, has raised more than $35,000 for both causes.

“(Broggi) works as a lifeguard, teaches young children how to swim and volunteers to work sporting events with the Piscataway Booster Club,” Anantharaman said. “Her ability to balance a rigorous course load as well as multiple extracurricular activities has earned her the respect of staff and students.”

Anantharaman said Broggi is of “morally sound character” and “solid virtues,” adding that she “truly improved my capacity as a coach.

“She had many setbacks in her ride to success,” Anantharaman said, “but she overcame all obstacles.”