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Teen of the Week: Parkersburg Catholic’s Tiana Tauber turns adversity into a positive

By James Dobbs 3 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Eighteen-year-old Tiana Tauber, a senior at Parkersburg Catholic High School, was diagnosed with Type 1 narcolepsy or narcolepsy with cataplexy as a young girl.

"Just like any kind of adversity, I push myself harder and use it (narcolepsy) to fuel myself to be successful," said Tauber.

Cataplexy is a sudden muscle weakness that can be triggered by strong feelings like fear, shock or laughter.

"For instance, if someone makes me laugh too hard, I can't talk, I can't move … It was kind of scary the first time it happened, but it's kind of normal now," she said.

Tauber originally wanted to be a doctor or surgeon, but had to find a different career path after being diagnosed. She realized that the caretaking aspect of the job, which usually falls on nurses, is the reason she wanted to be in healthcare.

Tauber is undecided on where she will attend college, but has narrowed it down to West Liberty University and Wheeling University. She likes both schools for their small campuses and the Catholic based education they offer. She will major in nursing and plans to become a specialized travel nurse.

Tauber is a 4.0 GPA student who has a passion for English. She enjoys writing short stories that teach lessons when she isn't busy. She won first place in the Wood Whispers writing contest with her short story, "A Tale of Two Passengers." She said the story is about not judging a book by its cover. She also won the Young Writers Contest at the county level her junior year with her story, "Storms of Anger Leave No Rainbows," and the Young Writers Contest in middle school at the state level with her story, "Puzzle Girl."

Tauber is a dual-enroll student at West Virginia University at Parkersburg. She will have 33 college credits by the time she graduates high school. At WVU-P, Tauber is president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society for associate's degree level students. She is the first Early College program student to be president of their chapter and the first in the region to be a chapter president, "which is kind of cool."

As the president of the chapter, Tauber helps come up with community service activities that members participate in. One of the projects they do is Adopt-a-Highway. During the fall, spring and summer semesters, they have a clean-up day event along two miles of W.Va. 47 where members work together to tidy the area.

At PCHS, Tauber is the student council president, a member of the service-based Interact Club, a member of the National Honor Society and on the volleyball and basketball teams.

In her spare time, Tauber loves to craft and has been crafting since elementary school. She has created signs for her teachers by wood burning their names into wood planks. She also enjoys creating homemade cards and ornaments.

Tauber enjoys participating in beauty pageants. She started competing at age 8 in the Little Miss Sternwheel contest for the Ohio River Sternwheel Festival in Marietta.

"It was the first pageant I ever competed in and I won the Little Miss Sternwheel title on the first try," she said. "I didn't really know what I was doing, so that was really exciting."

Tauber said she loves the Sternwheel Festival and goes to it every year. She participated in the Queen Genevieve pageant last year and plans to compete during this year's festival.

James Dobbs can be reached at jdobbs@newsandsentinel.com

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