Rion Holcombe grew up without knowing that there were things some doctors said he might not be able to achieve.
His parents, Danny and Sue Holcombe, of Moore, South Carolina, made a simple but powerful decision: they never put a ceiling on him. So when Rion, who has Down syndrome, decided on his own that he wanted to go to college, no one told him no. He applied to Clemson University’s ClemsonLIFE program, one of the most competitive in the country —fewer than 10 out of every 100 applicants are accepted— and in December 2013, the letter that would change everything arrived.
For two years he lived on campus, cooked his own meals, did his laundry, and learned to support himself. In the spring of 2016, he graduated. He then applied for twenty jobs and got two: one working alongside an occupational therapist and another at a water park. Today, he is proof that no one should decide for him how far he can go.