Through Her Words and Actions, Riley Carney Proves that Nothing is Impossible

By Riley Carney (2011) | When I was young, I had big plans for my future.

I wanted to be a veterinarian. An inventor. An astronaut. An artist. A wizard. A ninja. And a superhero.

All at the same time. I didn’t care if it was crazy. I was determined to be a veterinventorastrotistwizjahero and save the world every day of the week. Back then, anything seemed possible.

As I grew older, my career plans changed. I realized that I wanted to write.

Books have always been an important fixture in my life. I learned who I am through books. I learned what I believe in, what I aspire to be, what makes my heart soar, what makes my nose crinkle in dislike, and what I dream about. I have always been mesmerized by how words can influence our lives, and I loved the idea of being able to create worlds and characters by stringing words together on a page.

Soon after I decided I wanted to be a writer, though, people began to tell me that it was impossible, or that I would have to wait until I was older to become a writer. I wasn’t trying to be a superhero anymore, yet becoming a writer suddenly felt less possible than becoming a superhero.

Still, something inside me wouldn’t let me give up. When I was fifteen, I wrote my first book, The Fire Stone. Eventually, after much revising and rejection, my persistence paid off and my five-book series was published. I have now written nine books.

After my first book was published, I had to perform another seemingly impossible task: speaking in front of hundreds of kids at schools around the country. Public speaking has always been one of my greatest fears, but after my first speech it became easier and easier. Over the past two years, I have spoken to thousands of students about my books, about reaching for the impossible, and about the power of words.

My belief in the power of words also drove me to create my nonprofit for children’s literacy. When I was 14 years old, I learned that more than 130 million children around the world are denied access to a basic education, one in two children lives in poverty, and 1.3 million U.S. children drop out of school each year.  There is a direct correlation between literacy and poverty, and I believe that teaching children to read is the best way to lift them out of poverty. People told me that it was impossible for me to have an impact on a problem this large, but thus far, my nonprofit has built three schools in Africa and put 24,000 new books in high-need classrooms in the United States.

I will attend Harvard University in the fall, having learned that I can accomplish whatever I put my mind to. “Impossible” is just a word—and not a very good one, at that. Nelson Mandela said it best when he said, “It always seems impossible until it is done.”

Every one of the 2011 Coca-Cola scholars has a passion, something that they have dedicated their whole selves to accomplishing, no matter the odds against them. In Atlanta this spring, it was an amazing experience to hear so many powerful stories and to meet so many inspiring people who have dared to reach for the impossible.

Riley Carney is a 2011 Scholar from Denver, Colorado. She just started her first semester at Harvard University, where she is majoring in History and Government. You can read more on her website:  http://www.rileycarney.com/2.html