Most children begin talking — or at least making sounds — when they are toddlers, but Joseph Riley was not one of those children.

At 3 years old, the young boy from Etowah, Tenn., was stubborn and barely made any noise at all, and his mother Becky Riley says it’s not because he wasn’t able.

“He knew exactly what to say, and I knew he was bright, but he just would not talk until he could say exactly what he wanted to say,” Mrs. Riley said of her oldest chld.

Soon to be a senior at McMinn County High School, Mr. Riley already is a prolific speaker whose summer has included speaking before the National Right to Life Convention, the National Rifle Association and most recently, to a group of congressmen in Washington, D.C. He also was tapped by U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., to be one of two students from Tennessee to attend the Republican National Convention in December.

After a lengthy, challenging campaign, Mr. Riley was elected national president of Future Business Leaders of America at the group’s national conference in Atlanta in June. The FBLA has about 220,000 members at high schools across the country.

In the months and weeks leading to the election, Mr. Riley and the members of his campaign worked diligently to spread the word about his candidacy. Once the conference started, he and his 20-plus campaign workers worked in a booth, some days from 6 a.m. to the 5 p.m., he said.

“There’s no lunch, no breaks,” he said. There’s literally just talking to people every single second as they come by.”

As a result of the campaign’s hard work and nearly 450 volunteer hours, Mr. Riley beat the incumbent by getting 82 percent of the vote.

Despite this most recent win, along with numerous local, state and national achievements, and his natural gift for public speaking, the teenager is still unsure if he wants to pursue a career in politics.

When asked about his plans for the future, he says initially that he will go in the direction the Lord leads him.

But he does have goals for the short term, and they are enough to make any parent proud.

“Right now, it is very important to me that I go to school on a scholarship,” he said.

After college — the University of Virginia is his ideal — he has his sights set on law school and then the military, he said.

Mr. Riley was born and raised in Etowah, about an hour north of Chattanooga. He turned 18 recently and is proud to be a product of the public school system in McMinn County, where teachers nurtured him and encouraged his strong will and extreme drive, his mother said.

Mrs. Riley, whose degree is in special education and psychology, said she is aware that she occasionally needs to slow her son down, and she often encourages him to just be a kid.

“We’re just trying to hold on,” his mother said.

Even with all of his accomplishments, Mr. Riley is humble and credits his family — his mom, father Craig, a doctor, and two younger brothers and even his grandparents, with inspiring him to have high goals. He said he feels blessed to have all that he does, from his wonderful family to his talents and drive, and as a result, he feels it is his responsibility to make the most of those.

“I see a lot of things that our generation can accomplish,” he said. “I want to show people that we do still live in a country where it doesn’t matter if you come from a little bitty town or a big town or wherever, that if you’re willing to work, if you’re willing to be honest and forthright with people, there are opportunities for you.”

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