The Power of High Expectations

June 10, 2019

This month in College of Adaptive Arts 10th Anniversary of creation, we’d like to honor a very special professor this month in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month in June. Professor Jay Torres is an exceptional leader in the special needs community as well as the community at large.


College of Adaptive Arts was privileged enough to meet Jay in 2014 through a connection from the Director of the School of Dance. She visited a class one auspicious fall evening soon after we were forced to exit our original site due to a significant rent increase. The time was right for everyone to find each other, because Jay joined our staff soon afterwards. The College of Adaptive Arts’ students have blossomed, the School of Dance has blossomed, and Jay Torres has absolutely blossomed into an incredibly exceptional and exquisite human being.

Isabella Jay Torres gets a group hug from her adult students with disabilities following her Latizmo dance class at the College of Adaptive Arts in San Jose, California, on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. Latizmo is a combination of urban hip-hop, and salsa dancing created by Torres. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group)

Jay is an individual who has faced some keen complexities in life. Having suffered significant abuse as a child, having entered into jobs to fulfill the wishes of others, and having experienced a bout of homelessness, Jay found College of Adaptive Arts. She confided later that she had never worked with special needs individuals before this time.


This turned out to be a profound blessing, because she treated her students just like any other student studying dance, with the highest expectations, constant guidance, and support, and lots of lots of repetition. She has never once felt sorry for her students, and in turn, her students pour their heart and soul out during her Latizmo classes, so hungry and eager to learn more and more complex choreography and dance moves. Finally these adults found someone who truly believes in them and does everything within her power to bring out the very best in the students.


I witnessed these expectations first-hand this past quarter on a Wednesday night during a Latizmo Dream Team touring practice. She had asked for an extra half hour of practice for the quarter to get the students ready for some wonderful touring opportunities including at the sjDANCEco dance festival and the Redwood City STEAMFest. During one of these lengthy practices, I overheard Professor Jay state, “That was o.k., but I know you can do better.” Other comments throughout the class included “You are a professional dance team, and I expect you to perform as such.” And “That was good, now do it again!”


I observed lots of lots of dedicated, exhausting, absolutely fulfilling practices. Once she came over and started conversing with me during class while the students performed the entire, intricate dance routine entirely on their own. It was absolutely magical, and I could feel the pride of the students knowing that their professor cares and believe in their abilities through and through.


Another magical moment when was the Latizmo Hip Hop Dance Troupe had the opportunity to perform at Great America one summer for Disability Awareness Day. One of her students, below, was initially considered a shy, nonverbal student who had a hard time in the beginning even coming into class, let alone speaking into a microphone. After a year of relentless dedication and support, this student spoke into the microphone to a crowded audience the 3 bedrock tenants of Latizmo, Patience, Passion, and Perseverance.


Why Jay chose a positive path forward is a truly humbling and astounding testimony of the human spirit. This professor radiates love, compassion, and the highest expectations. It is the highest honor to have her as part of the College of Adaptive Arts family of Mountain Movers. Indeed, Professor Jay has created such a rich and engaging space of opportunity and possibility to allow her students to Move Mountains once regarded as insurmountable and impossible. And it has been with sincere patience, passion, and perseverance.


Learn more about Professor Jay Torres and Latizmo Hip Hop Productions Here:

https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts/videos/1817915938281181/?v=1817915938281181


https://www.kqed.org/arts/13819076/san-jose-hip-hop-dance-class-inspires-teacher-to-reach-for-the-stars

 

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins. We Built the College We Couldn't Find. Story #3: ED Nicole & her son Said

By Nicole Kim • March 9, 2026
When my son, Saïd, was born, we discovered he had Down syndrome. I was 21 years old at the time, and I hadn’t done prenatal testing because it was considered a “low-risk” pregnancy. Suddenly I found myself sitting in doctors’ offices and hearing professionals describe what they believed his future would look like. “He may never learn to read.” “His learning will likely plateau around age four.” “It’s unlikely he will live an independent life.” Those are frightening things to say to a young mother. Thankfully, I didn’t believe them. Instead, I chose to raise my son with the expectation that he would learn , would grow , and would live as full a life as he was capable of living . And he did. When the College of Adaptive Arts started in 2009, Saïd was 19—just the right age for college. We became part of the CAA community and never left. He took classes, performed in the community, and truly blossomed as a young man. Along the way he discovered that he loves theater. He also loves to sing. Don’t give him a microphone—you may never get it back. 🙂 Today, at 35 years old, Saïd lives with a roommate and a caregiving couple. He has a vibrant, joyful, independent life. And he still loves taking classes every semester. My own journey with CAA has been equally meaningful. For most of those years, I was a parent in the community. I soon joined the Board and became a professor. I taught classes like Speaking with Confidence and Joy of Baking , and eventually stepped into the role of Executive Director. But the belief that first guided me as a young mother has never changed. The belief I had in Saïd’s ability to learn, grow, and build a meaningful life is the same belief I hold for every student who walks through the doors of the College of Adaptive Arts. And something remarkable happens when you lead with that belief. Students rise to meet it. When we expect growth, they grow. When we expect contribution, they contribute. When we expect full lives, they build them. At CAA, we don’t define our students by limitations. We define them by possibility. And every semester, they remind us that possibility is far greater than anyone once imagined. -- Nicole Kim Executive Director College of Adaptive Arts

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins. We Built the College We Couldn't Find. CAA Story #2: Dr. Pamela Lindsay

By DeAnna Pursai • March 2, 2026
The Ties That Bind

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins: We Built the College We Couldn't Find. CAA Story #1: Angel E.

By DeAnna Pursai • February 23, 2026
College of Adaptive Arts is beginning a new weekly blog series featuring a story of a CAA student, professor, or parent/care provider each week. We hope you enjoy and can resonate with these stories. If you could comment and share with your networks to amplify this model, we'd be deeply obliged to you: Angel Ellenberger, sister to CAA Co-Founder DeAnna Ellenberger Pursai, grew up in Bluffton, Indiana alongside DeAnna in the 70's and 80's. It was a glorious childhood, full of love, joy, laughter, and sisterhood bonding. Angel was always quite social, and she was a hit wherever she went with the cheerleaders and the community. DeAnna came home from college one summer when Angel was in a postsecondary program (mandatory 18-22 extended years for students in the special education system). At the time, Angel was actively working with a job coach cleaning the desks at the local high school. DeAnna thought to herself, "Cool! That’s what happens to adults when the special ed students leave the school system." About one year to the date, DeAnna came back home to find Angel more than doubled her size and eating a bag of chips on the couch. She asked what had happened, and their mom said that the funding was cut for the job coach program and that Angel didn’t want to attend the one adult day program shared across their 2 rural counties – the only feeder option once you left the special education system. Angel did indeed end up going to the day program after she gained so much weight that she had congestive heart failure in 2000 and almost passed away. Needless to say, it’s been an arduous and tenuous endeavor. Angel is intelligent, perceptive, social, artistic, creative, and comedic. She needed a support system with more opportunities to socialize, learn, engage beyond coloring in local dime store coloring books for hours. That critical gap that Angel experienced sparked the seed of change, and together with her partner and friend Dr. Pamela Lindsay, College of Adaptive Arts was born. DeAnna and Dr. Pam built the college model they couldn’t find and so many around the world also could not find. To those people searching, CAA's message is, "We hear you, we see you, and we’re coming." CAA will not stop until it has garnered the support, awareness, and public and private levers to scale this lifelong collegiate model worldwide to become as widespread, welcoming, and accessible in the education space that Special Olympics provides so robustly in the sports and athletics space. CAA's revolutionary model is proving everyday that inclusive education is not charity; it is sustainable, transformative and a lifelong right.

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