The Marisa Tufaro Foundation is honored to announce that Evan DeNicola, a fifth grader from Samsel Upper Elementary School, has been selected as one of five students from Middlesex County to receive a 2026 Marisa Tufaro Memorial Art Scholarship.

The scholarship entitles Evan to attend a weeklong art camp this summer at Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum, where Marisa previously honed her craft and where her artwork was once displayed at an exhibit.

Evan has demonstrated outstanding artistic abilities, a strong work ethic, and genuine passion for drawing, illustration and animation. He consistently shows initiative, critical thinking, and a willingness to go above and beyond in both academic and extracurricular pursuits.

Evan completes every art project with a keen attention to detail, strong craftsmanship, and a focused approach to the artistic process.

In addition to his artistic and academic achievement in school, Evan passionately pursues art at home. Evan’s family fully supports his ambitions and encourages his creativity.  Evan spends countless hours drawing at home with traditional pen and paper as well as digitally. He creates animations on a variety of applications and adds his own voice to his tracks. He even takes recycling from home and builds cardboard creations like a “paper factory” constructed of simple machines.

The manner in which Evan chooses to use his free time demonstrates a passion for creativity to further develop his skills. He has taken many online art classes over the years, including Art Foundations, Realism, Illustration and Animation.

Evan’s ambition is to attend art college and ultimately become an animator for Cartoon Network, where he will be able to professionally combine his passion for cartoons and drawing.

Evan has combined his strong creative writing skills with his artistic talent, creating a comic book series called “Mr. Big Beard.” The series focuses on Mr. Big Beard’s adventures and misadventures with each comic book consisting of 30 or more pages of fully detailed illustrations and text, reflecting Evan’s commitment to his craft and his vision.

Evan has not only displayed creative intelligence in art, but has been a member of the school’s Talented and Gifted Program (TAG) since third grade. Additionally, Evan plays trumpet in the school band.

As a TAG student, Evan generates numerous creative ideas, follows through with research for projects, displays maturity and leadership, and is a self-starter with project ideas.

Evan also uses his artistic ability and voice to create posters for climate change awareness in his school’s Climate Change Committee, a cause about which he is impassioned.

Evan is also a budding actor. A client of AGB Studios, Evan has been acting for the past five years. He has been cast in several movies and recently was selected for a prestigious talent development program, which gives students the opportunity to be mentored by David DeLuise, a famous actor who starred in Disney’s The Wizards of Waverly Place.

Rutgers University’s summer art camp allows artists (ages 7-14) of various ability levels to explore their creative side and develop new skills alongside wonderful teaching artists in a unique setting only an art museum can provide. Children often find inspiration in the museum’s collection as they explore the galleries.

According to Rutgers University’s website: “During the hot days of summer, the Zimmerli is the place to be for budding young artists. Each year, new classes are added to stimulate, challenge and delight both veteran and newcomers who participate in the program. The Zimmerli continues to offer its popular classes in painting, drawing, pastels, watercolors, sculpture, and an art ‘sampler’ class.”

To date, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has been blessed and privileged to send 31 elementary and middle school students to attend the Zimmerli Art Museum’s summer camp in Marisa’s loving memory.

Established eight and a half years ago in Marisa’s honor and to keep alive her indomitable spirit, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has made a profound impact, donating nearly $450,000 to fulfill its mission of assisting pediatric patients and children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.

The nonprofit, which makes community service an integral part of its mission, has also spearheaded multiple initiatives resulting in the collection of thousands of toys, nonperishable food items, winter coats, baby supplies, children’s books, school supplies and other items for donation upon which it has placed no monetary value.

In addition, the foundation has awarded $36,500 in scholarships to exceptional high school seniors who have helped children in need.

Born with a severe cardiac defect, Marisa Tufaro survived six open-heart surgeries and a heart transplant before succumbing in 2017 at the age of 13 to a rare form of cancer following a valiant battle.

Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctors’ appointments, Marisa Tufaro was an Edison Township Public Schools honor roll student involved in myriad extracurricular activities. She lived a vibrant life that inspired.

Marisa’s ambition was to attend an arts college, and while God’s plan did not allow her to make it to one, her work did.

A piece Marisa constructed with a New York City School of Visual Arts graduate student during an art therapy session at New York Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital was displayed at the “Your Turn” exhibit at the college’s Flatiron Gallery in Manhattan in February 2017, days after Marisa’s untimely passing.

In 2012, Marisa was awarded a generous Summer Arts Scholarship to the Zimmerli Art Museum based on her achievement in camp and her artistic potential.

This year’s Marisa Tufaro Memorial Art Scholarship recipients share Marisa’s passion and talent for art.