#ShareYourCAAStory: Beautiful Testimony from a CAA Student & her Mom

March 15, 2021

 

“By Paige Delaney Kowalski, with help from Mom:


I am Paige and I am 22-years old.  I live with my sister and my mom and my cat. I already graduated from Post Secondary.  I go to a Day Program at Mission College and I take music, dance, and cooking classes at College of the Adaptive Arts.  Before COVID-19, I worked at the Holiday Inn doing laundry and helping in the Breakfast Room.  I like to dance and sing and hike with my mom and help my mom with cooking and cleaning. I like to talk about movies and actors and singers.  I Google my favorite stars so I can learn more about them.   I love being a part of Young Life Capernaum and I want to be a leader so I can help the younger kids.   I love being a greeter at church and helping the little kids in the Sunday School.  I play Little League Baseball and I am a big hitter. When I grow up, I want to be on American Idol and Dancing With The Stars.   I love my life and I am happy I have Special Needs because I have a special love.”

 

“When Paige was born, the doctors and the books and the experts gave me lists of things Paige would never learn to do.  It felt like I had been kicked in the gut.  I felt nothing by dread for her future.  Thankfully that feeling of dread got kicked to the curb when I started meeting with teachers and therapists and I realized  I was the expert  in my own daughter’s capabilities.


Paige has an amazing life. She is compassionate and caring. She loves helping others.  She is resourceful and smart.  When she was little, she brilliantly used her toys as tools to open locks and latches and escape the house.  She is creative.  She choreographs dances to her favorite songs. She is kind and loving. She encourages her friends and always has something uplifting to say about them or to them. She has strong opinions and is not afraid to say how she feels.  She experiences a full range of emotions and expresses them all.  She is constantly learning new things. She is a sponge for information and new skills.  COVID-19 opened up a new discipline of remote learning.  While she prefers to meet in person, she has learned new skills in her classes and has mastered using email!


 

Last Summer, Paige enrolled in College of the Adaptive Arts. She is taking some amazing courses! When she’s not baking up a storm in her Joy of Baking class, she is learning about the importance of warming up and breath control and posture in Concert Choir. She is learning so much about musical theater and watching classic musicals in her Musical Theater Appreciation Class. She is brand new to cheerleading and she is already choreographing her own routines in Cheer Squad.  She is learning about history and culture while perfecting dance moves in Contemporary and Cultural Dance.  And she is expressing her joy and love of musical theater in Joy of Broadway Dance.


Just like Paige, I LOVE her life.  And I am happy she has special needs and I want to soak up every bit of her special love.”

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins. We Built the College We Couldn't Find. CAA Story #7 Curtis K.

By DeAnna Pursai • April 6, 2026
When Curtis Kitaji was first born, his family was told that he wouldn’t be able to speak. Fast forward many years later, and Curtis is one of the most prominent performers you’ll meet. In fact, his dream is actually to become an actor one day. Curtis takes acting and songwriting classes at CAA and recently was one of the emcees at the Celebration of Inclusive Partnerships Gala, where he received rave reviews. “Being at CAA has helped me come out of my shell,” Curtis said. “I love being on campus and being here with my friends.” CAA’s model for lifelong learning was highly beneficial for Curtis. He attended two other colleges before CAA but had trouble keeping up with the required pace and workload. There have been so many great memories Curtis said he had experienced as a student, and he remembers fondly when his acting teacher showed up to class dressed as a chicken for no reason. Curtis was a participant of CAA’s Cardinal Apprenticeship Program and has learned many new skills, both in class and in his on the job training, that will help him later as he explores new career opportunities. Curtis is a South Bay native and loves participating in various sports. He is part of the Special Olympics bowling team and also an integral part of the CAA golf team. When Curtis isn’t in class at CAA, he enjoys hanging out at the mall with his friends or listening to his favorite band, Pentatonix.

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins. We Built the College We Couldnt Find. CAA Story #6: Longstanding Supporter Erin B.

By DeAnna Pursai • March 30, 2026
Longtime College of Adaptive Arts supporter and donor Erin Benford has been an integral part of the school since its inception. Erin has been a well-known realtor in the South Bay for nearly twenty years. She currently works for Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno, but prior to that she was a teacher, so she always had a passion for education. After meeting CAA co-founder DeAnna Pursai at a Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce mixer, the two bonded over their shared similarities of being school teachers and having loved ones with disabilities. Erin’s son Joel had learning disabilities and was diagnosed with Asbergers Syndrome. He is high functioning, so he was able to work in various different jobs before eventually settling in as a valuable assistant at Erin’s real estate business. Working alongside Joel, Erin knew firsthand the importance of creating opportunities for a neurodiverse population. Aside from her family, her real estate business and philanthropy, one of Erin’s biggest passions is sewing. She is the president for the American Sewing Guild’s San Jose chapter which encompasses 5 different bay area counties. The guild is a community service organization and educational group, focusing on garment making, textile arts, quilts, machine embroidery and much more. Erin says she hopes more people will get involved and support organizations like CAA who have no federal funding. “Raindrops make oceans,” said Erin. “If everyone gave just a little, it could do so much.”

Where the System Ends, CAA Begins. We Built the College We couldn't find. CAA Story #5 Kim Rains

By DeAnna Pursai • March 23, 2026
Kimberly was born in May 1978. She was a beautiful baby but something seemed off so testing was done and it was determined that she had Down syndrome. Testing also revealed she had a heart defect with a hole between chambers and a valve that didn’t work properly. This was all new to us. She was doing well so doctors decided to wait to let her grow bigger before doing heart surgery to repair the defects. We waited about 3 years and finally had open heart surgery at Stanford Children’s Hospital. The heart surgery went well but there was scaring below the vocal cords in her air way which required a Tracheostomy Tube below her vocal cords to allow outside air to & from her lungs. The Trach tube required suctioning to remove mucus from her airway and her lungs. But as Kim grew and made friends in the neighborhood and at early intervention school she learned she loved to dance and perform for the family and for an audience. She thrived when dancing in class, when practicing and when performing. She was a regular dancer at the Alice Porter Dance Studio in San Jose. She taught us, her parents, what she could do. We never said “you can’t” or “You won’t”. I would urge parents to use positive words when speaking to their children. She learned sign language to help communicating with others and her teacher. She learned to cover her trach with her finger to force air through her vocal cords to speak out loud. When teaching Kim how to ride a two wheeled bike she had difficulty with balancing. We tried everyday for a long period of time. We eventually found a three wheeled recumbent bicycle. She could ride that bike right away, and loved it. With her medical issues, we ended up with a trip to see a specialist in Salt Lake City, Utah and several trips to Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. John Langdon Haydon Down (1828 – 1896) was a British physician well known for his work & description of the genetic condition “Down syndrome” which he originally classified in 1862. He is also known for his work in social medicine and as a pioneer in the care of mentally disabled patients. It is too bad he didn’t have a different last name or a different way to identify the syndrome. For many of our children there is so much more “Up” and not so much “Down”. Kim joined several dance classes and used sign language for the church choir. Once we discovered College of Adaptive Arts there were several classes Kim wanted to take part in. She loved her new friends and brought several existing friends to join her in classes. She thrived in dancing, acting, practicing and learning new things. She led practice sessions at various times in several classes. The College of Adaptive Arts has been a great resource for Kimberly and for us to help and enable Kim to learn, grow and thrive in many areas. She loved to perform in public and on stage. CAA offers many types of learning scenarios and learning environments. It can be good to consider which classes are available and join those that could turn out great for your child. The sky is the limit. The College of Adaptive Arts is a lifelong learning environment. Thank you to Pam and DeAnna for your vision and for your follow-through. Thank you to all the current leaders for their work and dedication. CAA has been a blessing to us in so many ways.

Subscribe to our mailing list

Are you a current family looking for Weekly Updates? Sign into the student portal or subscribe to our weekly email list.

Subscribe

Share