For Jenna and Nicholas Trocchio, their Wall Township neighborhood isn’t just like family – they are family. Jenna and Nicholas live down the street from Jenna’s parents and her brother, and only a short drive away from Nicholas’s parents. The couple moved into their new house in November of 2021, and soon they gave birth to their first child – a baby boy, also named Nicholas, born just one day after his dad!

Jenna (formerly Sciarappa) grew up in Wall and attended Wall schools. Nicholas grew up just down the road in Neptune City. They started dating in 2015 after Nicholas finished graduate school. The couple had a small Covid wedding ceremony in August of 2020. After a few postponements, they finally celebrated with their families in July 2021.

After their wedding, they took a small honeymoon to Newport, Rhode Island. A year later, after their celebration, they took their big honeymoon to Aruba. The family loves warm, tropical vacation spots, and often goes down to Nicholas’s family home outside of Tampa, or to Disney World with their nieces and nephews.

Their son, Nicholas Jr., is currently nine months old, and he’s about to celebrate his first Christmas. His cousins love to come and visit him. Their school bus drives right past Jenna and Nicholas’s home, and their bus driver will stop every time they pass the house to let his cousins say hello to the baby. All of the other students on the bus love pausing to see the baby out of the bus windows.

Nicholas has a Bachelor’s Degree in business management from the University of Tampa, and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Saint Leo’s University in Florida. He currently works in law enforcement.

Jenna is a middle school special education teacher in Ocean County. She graduated from East Stroudsburg University with a teaching degree and a special education certification. She currently co-teaches 8th grade literacy and math.

Jenna comes from a family of teachers. Her parents were both teachers, as is her brother. Her sister-in-law is also an English professor at Ocean County College.

Jenna’s dad might be retired from teaching, but retirement hasn’t stopped him from being a rock star! He plays in a band that started performing in local bars, but now has expanded to also playing weddings and events.

The family lives in the North Wall area, where Jenna has lived for most of her life. Their current home is about a minute down the road from Jenna’s childhood home. After college, she rented in Belmar for a year and a half, before moving back to Wall.

“It’s close to 18, it’s close to the parkway, it’s close to 195. I like the location,” Jenna said.

North Wall felt like the perfect place for them to grow their family.

“Wall has a good reputation and a solid school system,” Jenna said. “I had a great experience, so I want the same for my son. Our neighborhood is nice and our neighbors are very friendly. We go for walks in the neighborhood. There are up and coming families like us, as well as people that have lived here for years, and watched their kids grow up. Now they have grandkids that are coming around.”

The family enjoys spending time outside, walking or biking around the neighborhood, and watching their nieces and nephews play sports. In the summer, you can find them poolside or down at Belmar or Avon beach reading and relaxing in the sand. When it’s too cold for the beach, they take Nicholas Jr. to Allaire State Park and Allaire Community Farms. When the couple has time for a well-deserved date night, they can often be found at Lubrano’s restaurant or enjoying live music.

“We’re looking forward to raising our family here and getting to know everybody,” Jenna said.

The couple was married in St. Rose Church. Nicholas attended St. Rose high school and loved it. The priest who married the couple has also given Nicholas many of his other sacraments. The couple remain parishioners of St. Rose.

The holiday season is the family’s favorite time of year! Nicholas enjoys decorating the house for Halloween and Christmas. This past Halloween the three of them dressed as Buzz (Nicholas), Woody (Nicholas Jr.), and Jessie (Jenna) for Halloween. They had their Christmas decorations up in November, ready to celebrate Nicholas Jr.s first Christmas (although Nicholas did not light the decorations before Thanksgiving).

“We’re looking forward to setting new traditions,” Nicholas said. “Since we moved, we’re finally starting to host some holidays, so everyone is excited to come here.”

With their family so close, people are always coming to visit, and to see or help with the new baby. Jenna recently returned to teaching after maternity leave.

“No matter what happens in life, always continue to work hard and remember to be grateful,” the family said.