Courtney and Mike Riley have invested in both the Hiawatha and K-State communities
By Tim Schrag '12
There are approximately 660 K-State alumni and friends in Brown County. The county seat of Hiawatha, Kansas, is home to 388 K-Staters. Courtney Novak Riley ’91 and Mike Riley ’87, are among them.
Both grew up in Hiawatha, where their fathers each owned small businesses. They both went on to K-State, and, with luck, returned to the community in 1992. They’ve been there ever since, helping elevate the community that raised them. Mike is an attorney and Courtney is his legal assistant.
“I was shocked at how excited people were for us to move back to Hiawatha,” Courtney said. "They started calling us right away to get involved with things. And I just kept thinking, ‘But I’m so young.’ But they totally valued us. They were so excited and so happy to have us back and took our input and respected us. It was a wonderful way to come back, get involved right away and get to know people.”
Since returning, the Rileys have been members of many community groups and initiatives including the library board, chamber of commerce, the Hiawatha Community Foundation (which Courtney helped found) and more.
“We're always proud of Hiawatha,” Mike said. “We're also proud K-Staters. I don't think there's any doubt in the community.”
When the community needed a new pool, Courtney wrote a grant to help Hiawatha build it and an aquatic park. Mike helped raise funds for the aquatic park. Coincidentally, the couple first met at the city pool. To the Rileys, stepping up to help the community comes with the territory of living in a small town, be it helping with the annual Halloween Frolic or the Hiawatha Hospital Foundation or raising funds for HOPE Brown County, a local cancer support organization. It’s just part of everyday life.
“Fundraising events for local organizations make up many of are our cultural outings,” Courtney said. “Everybody gets involved, and it's for a good cause.”
The Hiawatha community embraced their return, but the Rileys’ interest in community engagement was sparked during their time in Manhattan.
“I would say our leadership skills were developed at K-State as well as our interest in volunteering,” Courtney said.
“I was always encouraged at K-State, and I was never told, ‘No, you can't do that.’ I've always had a mentality that anything is possible,” Mike said.
At K-State Courtney was involved in Chi Omega sorority and Student Alumni Board; both groups had strong influences on philanthropy. Mike was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, a student senator and vice chair of the Student Senate. He also had a weekly column in the Kansas State Collegian.
The Rileys have also given back to the K-State community through service and leadership. Courtney served on the K-State Alumni Association’s board of directors from 2012-2016. Mike served as the Hiawatha Catbackers president until the group was disbanded. Both serve on their sorority and fraternity advisory boards. Mike also served as Pi Kappa Alpha’s international president from 2021-2022.
In November, K-State visited Hiawatha as part of a takeover visit to northeast Kansas. Representatives from the K-State Alumni Association, K-State Athletics and the Office of External Engagement spent the day visiting Hiawatha and other northeast Kansas communities. During the takeover visits, K-Staters gathered at The Alley in Hiawatha for a luncheon. Attendees had the opportunity to hear from these Wildcats with updates from across campus and even see a familiar face in Dalton Simmer, a 2025 K-State Student Ambassador and Hiawatha native.
“I thought it was a great way to learn what's going on outside athletics,” Mike said.
The Rileys where emphatic supporters of the visit, even covering the bill for the lunch.
“I heard back that people enjoyed that the event was over the lunch hour,” Courtney said. “They knew exactly how long it would be. They didn't have to get a babysitter. They could just come. They got to eat lunch. So it it worked great.”
Visits like this takeover help K-State strengthen its next-generation land-grant university commitment to the people of Kansas. This commitment includes, bringing resources and expertise together, building upon the university's strengths and leaning into the ways that K-State can solve problems on a grand scale. Interacting with community members in Hiawatha helps ensure that the university can accomplish its goals and advance its priorities. It also helps K-State gather diverse perspectives for each pillar of the land-grant mission and generate economic prosperity for all Kansans and contribute to grand societal challenges in an interdisciplinary, mutually beneficial way.
The visit sparked discussion that maybe the community in Hiawatha can be doing more with K-State, potentially establishing an alumni club which might award scholarships to incoming students or host watch parties for big athletic events.
“I saw a lot of heads nodding, so I took that as a good sign of something we might build to provide a local opportunity for our high school students to learn about K-State here,” Mike said.
Mike Riley, Dalton Simmer, 2025 K-State Student Ambassador, and Courtney Riley strike
the K-S-U pose in Hiawatha, Kansas.