LOPES Academy alumnus Charlie Paparone works part time at the GCU Golf Course, where he tends to different jobs, such as cleaning the rental clubs.

Photos by Ralph Freso

Charlie Paparone said it’s his first real job.

“I love my job. I like doing all the tasks. I like the people here, also,” said Paparone, taking a break on Thursday morning at Grand Canyon University Golf Course.

He leads the way down an elevator to the cart garage and a nearby room filled with rental clubs. With a wet rag, he wipes off the heads of each golf club while talking about his days at GCU’s LOPES Academy at the Cardon Center, a two-year nondegree program for neurodivergent individuals to experience college life, take courses, socialize and learn about employment opportunities.

“At the LOPES Academy, I learned to be confident in my work,” Paparone said. “Help as many customers as I can and treat customers like family.”

Paparone, 21, is one of six LOPES Academy alumni who, by this fall, will have completed one year of employment at GCU.

“We help them find jobs and find confidence. The hope is maintaining employment,” said program manager Courtney Patton. “The one-year anniversary is a sign of success for us.”

LOPES Academy alumnus Charlie Paparone picks up range balls on a recent morning at GCU Golf Course.

Paparone did two internships at GCU before his program completion in the spring.

He says the four-hour shift of folding towels, cleaning up trash from the course, retrieving range ball buckets and other duties as assigned allow him to pocket a bit of spending money.

“I spend it on a lot of things,” he said, “but mostly on my girlfriend.”

A job is about more than the paycheck.

“Jobs give them the opportunity to work on social skills and advocate for themselves,” said Dr. Heidi Boldway, LOPES Academy director.

LOPES Academy alumna Kristina Lang takes part in a basketball game this summer at the Lopes Performance Center during the program’s alumni gathering.

Thirty-two participants have completed the LOPES Academy program, and many alumni get together to catch up at monthly events, where another alumnus is employed.

“It’s fun to get together with people you don’t see that often,” said Kristina Lang, who is just starting her post-academy job of working with alumni and setting up these events.

“To me it’s not really the money, it’s more the experience,” she said of her job. “With this job I’m not really worried about the money, it’s getting to work with a great team like Courtney. And I like coming here on campus.”

At the July meeting, 15 alums played basketball in the Lopes Performance Center before lunch together.

Ray Chiago was there. He’s becoming a familiar face on campus as a member of the first LOPES Academy class and now working for the past year at the Lopes Mart convenience store at Chaparral Hall.

Ray Chiago (middle), with his friend and fellow LOPES Academy alumnus Lindsey Eaton (left), pose for a photo at a recent alumni gathering.

Ray, who was diagnosed with autism, can now ride the bus to GCU by himself, and he often sits by the window, eagerly waiting for his ride while wearing his uniform, wrote mother Mary Jane Mooney in GCU Magazine.

“I think he feels really independent now, like other grown-ups. He’s proud of himself, and of course, we’re proud of him,” she wrote. “One time, when I was still driving him to work, we were just pulling onto campus and he goes, “Ah, GCU! It changed my life!”

Chiago said he stocks a lot of beverages and chips at the store, “but I try to stay away from that stuff.” He works two days a week, he said, with a “36-minute break for lunch at 11:51.”

He does admit to a fondness for hamburgers and french fries, however.

“My own money goes down the drain,” he said. “I buy model horses through a company called Breyer that makes them. I have a lot of them, but I want to get more.”

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LOPES Academy alums who have worked one-plus years at GCU: Kyle Bragelman and Jaden Lowery, Lope Shop; Chiago, Lopes Mart at Chaparral; Jaycee Herr, Sodexo Catering.

LOPES Academy alums who are approaching one-year work anniversaries this fall: Paparone, GCU Golf Course; Maggie Noren, GCE Media Studio.

Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]

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