Brad Efune
 | Most students look back on their time in high school and have good memories of going to football games, working on the yearbook, and hanging out with friends. Brad Efune has done this and so much more. In 2007, his sophomore year, he decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps and take Chaparral’s Life Skills class. This gave Efune an opportunity to become a peer leader to a special needs/intellectually disabled (ID) student. His peer, Cody, just happened to be the only male who was on the Special Olympics Arizona’s cheer team. Efune wanted to support his classmate, so he decided to volunteer at the next event Cody participated in; Efune was hooked. After that day Efune wanted to become as involved with Special Olympics Arizona (SOAZ) as he could. He fell in love with the athletes and loved being around them. Efune loved sports and loved helping out, so he continued to volunteer at as many SOAZ events as he could; he also wanted to get his general education classmates at Chaparral more involved. He decided to get together with a fellow classmate to bring SOAZ’s Unified Sports® to their school. Unified Sports® is an inclusive program which combines individuals with ID (athletes) and individuals without ID (partners) on sports teams for training and competition. Athletes and partners compete alongside one another, each in a meaningful and integral role on the Unified Sports® team. Another program that Efune brought to Chaparral was the Best Buddies program. Best Buddies creates an opportunity for one-on-one friendships between intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and their typical peers. Students involved in this program plan activities together on the weekends “to just hang out.” Because of Efune’s and many other students’ efforts, this is now the largest club on campus with over 100 members. Efune received an internship with SOAZ where he established a committee which he refers to as YAC (Youth Activation Committee) to plan the Youth Activation Summit which includes12 fellow students throughout the Valley. The first summit had about 35 students in attendance who each gained information to bring back to their schools about how to bring SOAZ programs to their schools. Signed, |
