Frankie Garbolino commenced a frenetic day that included playing in a sectional championship baseball game and attending the senior prom with a life-changing visit to the Lakeview School.
The North Brunswick senior was part of a contingent of Middlesex County high school football players and cheerleaders participating in the Bellamy and Sons Paving Marisa Rose Bowl who volunteered their time and youthful enthusiasm to take part in inspirational classroom visits and a motivational pep rally at the Lakeview School on Friday morning.
As his high school’s career passing leader with 5,410 yards and 53 touchdowns, Garbolino is a talented multi-sport student-athlete who also maintains a 4.5 grade-point average. He will continue his academic and gridiron career as an engineering major at Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, which U.S. News & World Report ranks among the country’s Top 50 universities.
The recent visit to the Lakeview School provided Garbolino, who has worked tirelessly to achieve success on the field and in the classroom, with a deeper appreciation for his abilities and a new life perspective.
“My parents always raised me to put others before yourself and that’s what I came here with the intention of doing,” said Garbolino, who recently earned Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Leadership Award, in part because of the community service events in which the senior has participated. “But I feel like coming here today I got more from the students and staff than I was able to give to them. It was definitely an awesome experience.”
All proceeds from the second annual Marisa Rose Bowl will benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, whose mission is to assist pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
The nonprofit will be donating funds from this year’s contest to PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital of New Brunswick and the Lakeview School, a program of the New Jersey Institute for Disabilities. Both were the initial beneficiaries of the event, formerly known as the Snapple Bowl and Autoland Classic. Since its inception in 1994, the contest is New Jersey’s most successful charity all-star football game, having raised $736,000 for children in need.
The Marisa Rose Bowl, pitting Team Marisa against Team Rose in an intra-county showcase of Middlesex County’s top graduating high school seniors, will be played June 29 at Woodbridge High School’s Nicholas A. Priscoe Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
More:Woodbridge, host of Marisa Rose Bowl, builds leaders through community service
During the charity all-star game’s first 26 years, Middlesex County players and cheerleaders made an annual visit to the Lakeview School. The coronavirus pandemic prevented the contest from being played in 2020 and 2021, but the game made its triumphant return last summer.
“Coming back here today brings back all the memories from the last time,” said Joey Bellamy, a former Piscataway High School and The College of New Jersey football star who was among the last group of Middlesex County players and cheerleaders to visit the Lakeview School in 2019.
“I’m thankful to be able to come back here now that my family is a part of this (as a game sponsor). Coming here puts a lot of things in perspective. We are all very lucky for everything we have and it’s part of our responsibility to give back as much as we can. It’s just great seeing all the students and people that work here, how amazing they are.”
Nestled across from a lake in a picturesque section of Edison’s Roosevelt Park, the Lakeview School is one of the nation’s largest day programs for children with multiple disabilities. The 60,000-square-foot state-of-the art facility has spacious suites for occupational, physical and speech therapy.
Lakeview School boasts the most extensive clinical staff of any private or public school in the state, providing consultant medical and psychological services, specialized nursing services, social services, and medical screenings. The school has 150 students — ranging in age from 3 to 21 from a dozen counties statewide — who have nearly 100 different medical diagnoses. More than 70 percent of students at the Lakeview School are unable to verbalize or communicate using augmentative devices.
“We are very experienced at Lakeview School in caring for children who have complicated needs,” said Venus Majeski, director of development and community relations at the New Jersey Institute for Disabilities. “By the same token, we strive to keep the school a happy place. It’s a school first and the students here are children first.”
Majeski said renewing the annual visit from the Middlesex County players and cheerleaders was paramount for students and staff, who created an inspirational atmosphere for Friday’s classroom visits and pep rally.
“When the community comes into Lakeview School, especially these football players and cheerleaders, it helps to foster that sense of inclusion, that Lakeview School is not apart from anything, but is a part of who we are in Middlesex County and Central Jersey,” Majeski said. “As young people, their spirit and enthusiasm, we really truly missed having this kind of event here at the school. There really aren’t words to express how grateful we are to be a part of this game, not because it’s a football game, but because it’s a movement of good that swells through Central Jersey.”
Proceeds from the game have helped fund the Lakeview School’s multipurpose room, in which the pep rally was held, and have also been applied to the school’s aquatic center, which features a state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pool.
More:Press conference kicks off Marisa Rose Bowl charity all-star football game
Several all-star game alumni, inspired by students they met at the Lakeview School, have pursued careers in special education, as paraprofessionals, and as speech therapists. One former Middlesex County cheerleader became a teacher’s assistant and summer classroom teacher at the Lakeview School.
Following an orientation, during which the all-stars received a pep talk from Majeski and Lakeview School Principal Lauren Bell, players and cheerleaders splintered into small groups to interact inside separate classrooms with students, many of who were decorating posters for the pep rally. Other activities inside the bustling classrooms included reading stories, dancing, playing games, and listening to music.
Karli Zamora, one of four cheerleaders from Middlesex High School who joined their head coach Courtney MacDonald to make the Lakeview School visit, immediately connected with one of the students with who she was paired.
“Seeing how all these kids are really kids, that they could interact with me like anybody else, showed me a whole different perspective,” Zamora said. “I’m really grateful I got to come here today.”
MacDonald, whose sister and cousin cheered in the Snapple Bowl, said visiting the Lakeview School gave her and her student-athletes a better understanding of the charity all-star game and The Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s mission of helping pediatric patients and children in need.
“It brings everything together,” MacDonald said. “This is a charity event and we want to know more about the charities we are supporting. This is a new environment for the girls, as well as myself. I think it hits home and gives us more of a purpose. This is not just a football game for them to cheer on the sidelines, but something special that I don’t know we would get another opportunity to do.”
The day’s palpable energy escalated once the entire school convened in the multipurpose room for the pep rally, during which the all-star players and cheerleaders were introduced. Some Lakeview students used their augmentative devices to cheer, while those students who could make noise loudly expressed their appreciation to the Marisa Rose Bowl representatives, who were all outstanding ambassadors of their respective school communities.
More:Marisa Rose Bowl returns, will benefit children in need
The contingent included Andrew Safara, Clifford Gardner, Tobias Neuberger and Kevin McMillion of East Brunswick; Giana Staikopoulos, Jamie Gorel and Gabriella Maynard of Middlesex; Nikki Neumann of North Brunswick; Aidan O’Leary and Connor Larson of Metuchen; Varun Magadum of Monroe; and Joseph Lepore of South River.
“For Lakeview School to be included means that we really are part of the fabric that makes this county great,” Majeski said. “Our students and our staff can do their part to be a part of this great movement of good. Not only are you doing good financially (through fundraising), but more so you are marking the hearts of young people in our communities. These players and cheerleaders get a sense of being a part of something that is bigger than themselves.”
Since its inception less than six years ago, The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has donated more than a quarter of a million dollars to fulfill its mission. The nonprofit has also donated thousands of toys, nonperishable food items, winter jackets, baby supplies and other items upon which it has placed no monetary value.
Born with a severe cardiac defect, Marisa Rose Tufaro survived six open-heart surgeries and a heart transplant before succumbing to a rare form of cancer in 2017. She was just 13 years old.
Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctor’s appointments, Marisa Rose Tufaro was an Edison Township Public Schools honor roll student involved in myriad extracurricular activities who led an inspirational life.
Majeski said Marisa Rose Tufaro’s indomitable spirit was alive during the all-star contingent’s Lakeview School visit.
“There is no finer legacy that The Marisa Tufaro Foundation can leave in our community,” Majeski said, “and you impressed that in our hearts.”
Joe Martino is editor of the Courier News, Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com. He can be reached at jmartino@gannettnj.com.
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