Etowah native selected to be Rhodes Scholar
Associated PressKnoxnews.com
Knoxville, TN
An Etowah native attending the University of Virginia has been selected as a 2013 Rhodes scholar.
Joe Riley is a senior majoring in Chinese and is in the honors program in government and foreign affairs. In an interview, Riley said he first got interested in Chinese while serving in high school as the national president of Future Business Leaders of America. Two of his fellow national officers were originally from China.
Once at Virginia, he joined ROTC, where he is ranked as the number one Army cadet, according to a biography from the Rhodes Trust. Riley said the Army encouraged him to continue Chinese studies, sending him to China during the summers to study civilian-military relations and Chinese involvement in Africa.
He also has attended the 101st Airborne Division Air Assault school and Army Airborne Infantry school.
