He waits for silence and begins again: 'When I was very young and witnessed the video accounts of children suffering from disease or malnutrition, separated from their families or subjected to violence, I knew I had to act. 'When I was very young,' Greg says in one videotaped speech, drawing laughter from the crowd of about 11,000. He writes his own speeches, which he delivers with the polish of a veteran campaigner. Greg earns money on the speaking circuit to support his philanthropic work. 'He's traveling in circles very few humans ever attain, let alone 13-year-olds,' Wessells said. He has met with Mikhail Gorbachev, Jordan's Queen Noor and Nobel peace laureates. He visited Kenya, where he was a guest at the signing of a peace treaty between warring tribes, and witnessed the despair of crack-addicted children in the slums of Sao Paulo, Brazil. However, much of his energy has been spent working with the Richmond-based Christian Children's Fund and traveling as the founder of International Youth Advocates, which champions nonviolence and human rights. 'I've just been given so many incredible opportunities.'Īmong those opportunities was attending Randolph-Macon on full scholarship. 'I feel I've lived the life of a normal child,' Greg said. Greg has charted a course that makes him happy, and that includes not only advanced learning but also playing sports with children his own age. Janet Smith said concerns that her son has missed out on his childhood are misplaced. An adult is always by his side, often a campus security officer. But Janet and Bob Smith liked the small classes at the 1,100-student school and what seemed a safe environment for their son, who received his first threatening note - likely from a jealous classmate - when he was 8. Greg could have entered a larger and more well-known college.

His is a mind that should not be straitjacketed.' 'He has boundless curiosity, a tremendous sense of values around peace and social justice, and great motivation.

That is where he has made the greatest strides, Wessells said. But the cheerful lad with the distinctive bowl-shaped mop of golden hair lacked life experience and cultural understanding. Greg already was well ahead of his classmates intellectually when he arrived, Wessells said. 'He has come much farther in three years than anyone I've ever known.' 'I don't have a measuring stick for it,' Wessells said.

Greg smith genius parents