Catherine Riley is a woman from the Hazleton Area who was born with Down Syndrome. Catherine isn't like most people with this horrible disability, and can not only thank herself, but her mother Nola, as well as her older sister Molly. Catherine's family raised her to be the independent, successful, and working woman she is today. Growing up, Catherine was brought up and taught to treat things as competitions and always to set your limits high, as she did. Catherine now works full time at the Hazleton Area High School in Pennsylvania on top of traveling on her own time to many schools and Universities sharing her spectacular story with the world.
Catherine Riley's biggest challenge with her disability was accepting the fact that she has Down Syndrome and knowing that it would never go away. The disability not necessarily held her back from the things she could not do, but inspired her to work towards the things that she could do; see her abilities over her disability. Things came easy to her, like any kid growing up, while at times she would struggle at things. She was like any other kid growing up. She loved journalism, aerobics, dancing, reading, traveling, and people. She spoke about her love for poetry, and mentioned that she wasn't the best student at math, but knew she would have to work twice as hard to succeed in the subject. Knowing your weaknesses and strengths really benefited her throughout her high school career and allowed her to reach more realistic goals. There are very few differences about Catherine and other students. She may have to take more time to learn the material in school, or go to speech classes, or rehab, but she would never say the word can't. "Can't is a non-existing word in my dictionary, " (Catherine Riley). She goes on to state in her speech "Always be proud of who you are and your accomplishments. Do not be afraid of the challenges that come your way.