Kylee Campbell may be Miss Rodeo USA, but she didn’t ride a horse for the first time until she was 9 years old. However, her love for the animals became clear to her among her first memories.

“When I was 3, I had a pink sparkly barn that I trained horses to fly in in my imagination,” she said. “I was always told I was too small to ride. But, finally, when I was 9 years old, I got my chance to ride a horse and that love has only grown.”

In her role as Miss Rodeo USA, Campbell is in Statesboro this week promoting the 10th annual Kiwanis Rodeo, which is set for Friday and Saturday at the Bulloch County Agricultural Complex.

Campbell is the official ambassador for the International Professional Rodeo Association, and her stop in Statesboro is one of more than two dozen she will make throughout the United States and Canada this year as Miss Rodeo USA 2021.
“I’ve heard from several rodeo queens that Statesboro is one of the most fun stops,” Campbell said. “They told me that they’re going to work you taking you to a lot of schools and other areas, but you’ll love it. And, so far, they’re right. I love it.”

During her time in Statesboro, Campbell has visited several schools and businesses, met Freedom the bald eagle and attended several other events. She is particularly looking forward to attending Saturday’s Blue and White football game at Paulson Stadium.

Campbell, 20, is a native of Huntsville, Alabama and is a student at the University of Alabama, though she is taking this year off due to the demands of her duties as Miss Rodeo USA. 

First ride on a horse

Though her first ride on a horse didn’t happen until she was 9, she met the trainer who is still with her today and has become a lifelong mentor. But that didn’t seem to be a likely future that first day.

“We happened to stop in a barn and my trainer who I have now was there,” Campbell said. “About a year prior, she had lost seven of her horses in a barn fire, so she was getting ready to get out of training completely.

“I came by and she was giving someone a lesson. So after running around the barn for a while and petting horses, I went up to her and said, ‘Are you going to give me lessons?’

“She said, ‘Well, I can give you one, but I’m getting out of this.’ So, after my first lesson, she called me and said ‘When can you come back?’ Ever since, she’s been like my second mom. Horses have been an important part of half my life now, so while I didn’t grow up with them, when I started, it stuck and it’s a huge part of my life now and I imagine always will be.”

Campbell got involved in rodeo pageants at a young age, too.

“When I was 10, I went to a clinic about the pageants and a past Miss Rodeo was there putting on the clinic,” she said. “I met her and the queen of that particular rodeo and I was just infatuated with it all. I said, ‘I want to be like her. She’s got big hair. Big eyelashes. The sweetest person. I just loved it.

“The whole idea that I could go out and share how I love horses and rodeo with people that either don’t know or equally love it. It just drew me in a completely different direction. At 10 years old, I said ‘I’m going to be Miss Rodeo USA one day.’”

And through the years competing in all the age divisions in Miss Rodeo pageant events, Campbell ultimately achieved her goal by being crowned Miss Rodeo USA at the International Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City in January.

Mentoring platform

Each Miss Rodeo USA chooses a platform for the year, in which they bring attention to a cause they believe in strongly.

“My platform is ‘Mentoring Matters,’ because of the mentors I’ve had in my life,” Campbell said. “I believe anyone at any age can be a mentor. You don’t have to necessarily be an older person mentoring a young person.

“At the USA Pageant, I took the theme of ‘superheroes’ and compared it with mentoring and showed in ‘Batman,’ he had Alfred and also had Robin. So not only was Batman a mentee he was a mentor, as well.”

And Campbell hopes to turn her Miss Rodeo USA platform into a lifelong career.

“My goal is through what I learn at the University of Alabama, I want to put it towards starting a nonprofit business that’s mentoring through equine competition,” she said. “I want to be that person that my trainer was for me to push me and help me along with my passion for horses.”