Alumni Joseph “JoJo” Lopez III builds community in New Mexico

Joseph “JoJo” Lopez III, ’10 & G-’17, had some free time during a high school class trip to Washington, D.C., so he decided to visit Gallaudet University.

He had heard about Gallaudet from his peers and teachers at California School for the Deaf, Riverside (CSD-R), but never visited the campus. In fact, he had no intentions of attending at all. Instead, he planned to join his cousins at a local college back in California. Those plans changed when he stepped foot onto Kendall Green.

“I was in awe,” Lopez says. While CSD-R is one of the biggest deaf schools in the country, the scale of Gallaudet was something else entirely. Everywhere he walked, he saw students, faculty, and staff using American Sign Language (ASL).

When he arrived back home, he sat down with his parents to tell them the news. He wanted to go to Gallaudet.

A Supportive Home

Lopez’s parents supported his decision, just like they had his whole life. He grew up in Riverside, California as part of a proud Latino family with Mexican heritage from Sinaloa, Zacatecas, and Guadalajara. When Lopez became deaf at two years old, his mother didn’t have to look far to find support. California School for the Deaf, Riverside was right in their own neighborhood.

He was placed in pre-kindergarten at CSD-R and started picking up ASL. His parents learned to sign themselves through his school and a local community college. Lopez spent his childhood commuting between signing peers at CSD-R and a multilingual home where his parents and two sisters used ASL, English, and Spanish.

That close family bond gave Lopez a firm foundation for growth, and it made his first weeks at Gallaudet challenging. After he arrived at the Ballard North dormitory on campus, he soon found himself homesick. Many of his new deaf and hard of hearing classmates had grown up in dorms at deaf schools, so being away from home was nothing new. Lopez, on the other hand, had never lived apart from his family because they lived so close to CSD-R.

Over time, Lopez became acclimated to his new surroundings. As he made more friends, he learned the same thing that most alumni do: Gallaudet is home, too.

Growing at Gallaudet

At first, Lopez planned to major in history, but he found that teaching didn’t interest him. He explored social work, but wasn’t fond of the paperwork. His academic advisor recognized his natural ability to connect with others and referred him to the Communications Studies program. He fell in love.

Lopez credits classes like family communications and public speaking with giving him skills he uses to this day. He looks back fondly on the teachers who pushed him to achieve more, like Robert Harrison, ’01; Joseph “JoJo” Lopez III, ’10 & G-’17; Dr. Lille Ransom, G-’79; and Dr. Beth Benedict, ’80 & PhD ’03.

Outside of class, Lopez immersed himself in campus life. He joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity, as well as other student organizations like the Latine Student Union, International Student Council, and Rainbow Society. As the co-chair of the Rainbow Society, Lopez helped host a bustling ColorFest, with attendees of all ages from Gallaudet and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) descending on campus.

With the International Student Council, Lopez hosted the annual Snowball event, a nighttime party at a skating rink. One year, his fellow students voted him as Snowball King.

As a child in California, Lopez’s uncle lived a block away from CSD-R. Lopez would visit his uncle often and swim in the pool backyard. When he arrived at Gallaudet, Lopez joined the swimming team and immediately felt at home in the Field House pool. Some of his most cherished memories are of practicing with his teammates and pushing himself during swim meets.

Lopez has returned to Gallaudet several times since graduating, including Homecoming for his ten-year and fifteen-year class reunions. Every time, his first stop is the Field House so he can breathe in the familiar air of the pool where he spent so much time.

Staying Busy

Lopez hasn’t slowed down since graduating from Gallaudet. If anything, he’s gotten busier.

For the past fifteen years, he has worked at New Mexico School for the Deaf as an early intervention specialist. When families in southern New Mexico with deaf and hard of hearing babies need support, Lopez answers the call. He travels to family homes to counsel new parents on how to care for deaf and hard of hearing infants, and teaches them sign language.

“I’m from a hearing family myself,” Lopez says. “I completely understand the emotions that hearing parents can feel such as loss and grief. I love supporting families. The southern New Mexico community needs somebody to advocate for them.”

Lopez has worked with so many clients that he’s developed an extended family in his local community. One client, the Quinonez family, even traveled to Gallaudet to watch Lopez graduate with his master’s in Sign Language Education in 2017. This year, Angelique Quinonez, who he met when they were 2 and a half years old, is entering Gallaudet as a freshman.

“JoJo came into my family’s life and gave us life-changing support,” Quinonez says. “I was part of a statistic—one of the 95% of deaf children born to hearing parents, and to teen parents at that. When JoJo came to our rural home in New Mexico, he paved the road to my family’s success. He taught my family ASL, gave them resources, and gave me the foundation to thrive. JoJo is not just support—he is family!”

Lopez’s message for Quinonez? “Enjoy your time at Gallaudet. Go to different events and get involved. Be you! Ask for help if you need it.”

Outside of work, Lopez is a board member of Deaf organizations Council de Manos, Mano a Mano, Raices del Rio Grande, and the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). This October, he’ll present on “Deaf Identity and Intersectionality” at NAD’s National Leadership Training Conference. He also serves on the New Mexico Commission for Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

“My friends say I need to learn how to say no,” says Lopez. He credits his strong family upbringing with his passion for advocacy. And he recognizes the influence that Gallaudet had on his growth.

“I was a quiet, naive high school student when I entered Gallaudet,” Lopez says. “Gallaudet changed who I am. If it wasn’t for my time there, I wouldn’t be the person that I am today.”