One of the best young public speakers in the nation resides in Yelm, Washington.
Kyla Poland, a senior at Yelm High School, placed fourth in prepared public speaking at the 2024 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Thursday, Oct. 24.
Poland, who qualified for nationals by winning the state title in public speaking in May, presented a speech in three different rounds that week.
She was the only student from the West Coast to make the top eight; the next-closest Western state represented was Oklahoma.
The Yelm FFA chapter president received a cash award to recognize her placement in the event, as well as a gold emblem for finishing in the top eight.
“Washington is not a state that you’d expect to make the finals. I knew in my heart that I believed that I could be one of the best, but Washington hasn’t made the finals in the last 10 years,” Poland said.
Poland said she was shocked when she learned she qualified for the top four.
“I gasped and almost dropped the paper I was holding, and I just started laughing and smiling. I looked over at the girl next to me who had also made it and was crying, and I started crying because I was so shocked,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I did it. I made it.’ ”
Poland had about 50 messages on her phone from family, friends and classmates when she found out she qualified for the finals. Her family streamed the event from home to support her.
“It was great to have not just the support of the kids who were there with me, but all the support back home was awesome,” she said. “My aunt and uncle in eastern Washington watched it, and my family, who are farmers and are really passionate about the issue that I was talking about, watched it and were proud. Even though there were mistakes in the speech, just to know that people were proud of me and that they were excited that I represented Washington the way that I did, I think was really impactful.”
Poland’s speech was about conventional methods of farming, including the use of pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), versus organic farming methods and the trade-offs of both. Her argument was that the use of pesticides and GMOs is beneficial.
Before her speeches, Poland felt an abundance of confidence because of her advisor Matt Mounts, who coached her from Yelm. She also was driven to represent her hometown and home state speaking about a topic pertinent to the region and her family.
“He said, ‘You have to be content with whatever you get, and you have to understand that wherever you go is what was meant to happen,’” she said of Mounts. “I was feeling content and happy with my skills. I was confident in my ability that no matter what happened, I would give a speech that I was proud of and would give the best speech I’d ever given.”
She squeezed in practice for her speech and for every possible question a judge could ask her on her topic every chance she could. Poland studied her flashcards on the plane, in the hotel, and in the holding room at the convention.
She even memorized the names of authors from which she got her information from and reached out to some of them to gather more information and impress the judges.
“Being able to reference those things and the information I gathered from them really made my answers strong,” Poland said. “In the semifinals, I got the best questions. I knew all the answers. Of course, finals had the hardest questions of all, but I still felt like I was able to put knowledge together and answer efficiently.”
Poland also studied previous finalists’ speeches to understand what the top presentations featured, from vocal inflection to hand gestures.
“I was generally looking at what things separated the person who got first from the person who got fourth because at that level, it’s hard to tell,” she said. “It’s such a concentration of talent and impressive skill. What I found was that it’s the question answers that really make or break it.”
Poland’s previous coach was a part of the school district’s reduction in force, and she still earned a victory for Yelm FFA on a national stage. She believes her run to fourth place is proof that hard work pays off, no matter the circumstances.
“Because of the levy, I didn’t even have a coach, but I was still able to do it. It’s showing all the other kids in the school district that we can still do big things even with the levy not happening,” she said. “I think sometimes there can be a lot of doubt when we first start in any journey or doing any competitive thing that maybe we’re not good enough and maybe the odds are against us. But the numbers don’t matter. It doesn’t matter where you start. It doesn’t matter who you’re up against or whether you think someone’s good or a hard worker. It’s their actions that’ll show, and if you keep working at it and don’t make any excuses for yourself, then you can really get anywhere, even in Yelm.”
