ROYAL CITY — Royal High School junior Zoe Noftle placed second in the FFA’s District IX Extemporaneous Speaking Contest earlier this month and will compete at the state level in August.

Noftle said she wasn’t expecting a virtual competition, but felt it worked out for the best.

“I just got to be in my house, do it, do the research and write it,” Noftle said. “I guess it was kind of more peaceful than being in a competition with a bunch of other kids around.”

Participants in the contest are given 30 minutes to prepare a speech from one of three general agricultural topics selected by the judges at the start, according to the rules listed by the Washington FFA Association. Speeches must be four to six minutes in length, and judges are allowed to question the speaker for five minutes once they’ve concluded.

Noftle’s topic focused on the use and treatment of animals in agriculture. After stressing out at first, Noftle said, she realized she could rely on the community she lives in, including referencing a dairy farmer she knows as a topic in her speech.

“He helps farmers, he helps people that might be against them, where he just makes these dairy tours at his farm,” Noftle said. “He tries to get as many people as he can to come so that he can show them just exactly what they do at the dairy, how they care for the animals, take care of them, and treat them the way they should be treated, and how it’s even safer than a lot of areas in the wild.”

Noftle said her father is an irrigation designer who helped her learn a lot of farmers and areas around Royal City growing up. It’s this knowledge, she said, that helped her form her speech.

Growing up in the area, Noftle said, it’s hard to avoid being involved in agriculture in some way.

“To be totally honest, you kind of have to do it,” she said. “My grandfather owns a couple of orchards here, so you grow up here working. And so, even if you don’t want to do it, you do it. But it’s a great way to learn.”

Noftle said she joined FFA as a freshman in high school, but didn’t rejoin as a sophomore after not being a part of many competitions as a freshman. Noftle said her agronomy and horticulture teacher, Victoria Ulrey, has done her best to keep them excited about FFA this year.

Before school moved online, Noftle said, she wasn’t even planning on doing the event, skeptical that she could even handle it. After the pandemic, Noftle said Ulrey continued to encourage her, giving her topics to research.

After jumping into the research, Noftle said, she got excited about the idea.

“You do a lot of the research and you want to help share with people,” she said.

Noftle said the excitement around competitions and diving into these new topics have made FFA an amazing club to be a part of.

“Of course I don’t think that farmers and ranchers would feel that they are harming the animals, but it does help you realize that a lot of people do think that and that you need to help change their minds, show what your community is doing,” Noftle said.

FFA and agriculture are just things she’s grown up, Noftle said. She added that she doesn’t know if any of it will turn into a career after high school, but that she’ll do her best to introduce others who may.

“I’m going to try and help the younger generation, at least other friends of mine in high school, to keep doing the competitions because maybe they’ll realize it’s something they want to do in the future too,” Noftle said.

The grind of online learning has its toll. Noftle said she never thought she’d be so upset about not having school.

“I do miss school, and I do miss the teachers,” Noftle said. “It’s a pretty crazy thing that’s happening at this time.”

Noftle will compete in the state level of the FFA’s Extemporaneous Speaking Contest in August.