Schools of Study

Challenging the Minds by Danie Weaver, Director, CAA School of Communications

October 18, 2019

 

College of Adaptive Arts is known for their dance classes, their art classes, theatre classes, and hip hop classes. However, some classes get less notoriety but are just as important. Did you know that every quarter, CAA offers eight classes that fall under the Communication department?

 

In these classes, students are challenged to use their minds and explore the world beyond their blinders. Let’s take the reading classes, for example. This quarter both the reading classes are reading works by C.S. Lewis. As the students are reading these fantastical novels, they are not only reading classics, but they are learning vocabulary, learning about themes, they exploring worlds that many may not have explored. Beyond learning about literary devices, students are learning the importance of loyalty, faith, how they learn to trust other people.


Speaking with Confidence, students learn the importance of good posture, eye contact, and vocal variety. Students are learning the significance of having a good handshake, how to carry on a conversation with others and how to be proud of the thing that they love and own it as part of who they are as a person.

 

In Grad writing, students learn how to approach difficult topics such as anxiety, loss, and even wishes and wants. The students also learn to stand up for their beliefs, explore who they would be in an alternate universe, and how to respond to life’s ups and downs. They learn how to express who they even when they are struggling.


In Poetry, students learn about alliteration, haikus, and rhyming. Students are learning the importance of connections in the world. Everything is connected, and those connections are beautiful, even poetic.


In Sign Language, Students are learning a new language through songs and lyrics. But more than that, they are learning about other cultures and discussing society’s norms and how they affect everyone.

 

C.S. Lewis said, “You never know what you can do unless you try, and very few try unless they have to.” In communication classes, students try and achieve because they have to. Because challenging the mind is akin to challenging the soul. Students flourish and become readers, writers, and successful human beings.

 

Thanks and Kind Regards,


Danie Weaver

College Of Adaptive Arts

Director, School of Communications


“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A.A Milne.


 

By Michael Reisman February 10, 2025
Disability Advocate Haben Girma to Speak at West Valley College February 12 (Saratoga, Calif., January 22, 2025) Haben Girma, nationally recognized disability rights advocate and the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law, will be coming to the Bay Area for a free Assistive Technology Fair which will feature a special talk, book signing, and campus tours. Girma is a Bay Area native and a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change, and the World Health Organization appointed her Commissioner of Social Connection. She has also received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and TIME100 Talks. Harnessing the power of the written word to spark advocacy, Girma wrote and published the book that became a bestseller, Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law. The story takes readers on adventures around the world, including her parents’ homes in Eritrea and Ethiopia, building a school under the scorching Saharan sun, training with a guide dog in New Jersey, climbing an iceberg in Alaska, fighting for blind readers at a courthouse in Vermont, and working with President Biden and President Obama at The White House. College of Adaptive Arts, a non-profit college serving over 250 adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), is sponsoring the event along with West Valley College’s DESP services, David Wang Educational Endowment and EOPS in an effort to provide information and programs to those experiencing disability. “Haben Girma is a great example of how to transform perceptions of people with disabilities,” said Nicole Kim, Executive Director of College of Adaptive Arts (CAA). “Like many of our students with IDD, she’s had challenges to overcome, but being able to access higher education was instrumental to her growth and success. She is a great example of the change one person can affect if just given the opportunity.” The event is free to the public and takes place Wednesday, February 12 from 10am-2pm at West Valley College’s Campus Center at 14000 Fruitvale Avenue in Saratoga, CA. For additional information, or to RSVP, please visit www.bit.ly/wvc-atf2025
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Longtime CAA Director Nicole Kim Brings New Energy, Vision, and Leadership to the Educational Nonprofit
By Michael Reisman April 1, 2024
College of Adaptive Arts co-founder DeAnna Pursai was recently selected as one of the profiles for the prestigious Human Atlas project . Human Atlas projects are research-based, interdisciplinary explorations of the people of a specified geography. They are built on an extensive nomination process from a carefully curated group. These individuals profiled are championing and driving social impact in all its forms: from public servants to entrepreneurs, from non-profit leaders and activists to artists and scientists.

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