Kaitlin Pate became Miss Deaf Georgia of 2003-2005 in Jekyll Island, Georgia. She also won an award for Best Talent when she performed a signed performance/dance of the song "Never Had a Friend Like Me" from the Disney movie, "Aladdin". Mita Ganesh was the first runner up.
Kaitlin went to Kansas City, Missouri in the summer of 2004 for the national Deaf pageant that had 27 contestants included her. As for her national pageant, her talent performance had changed to a skit/poem called "I'm Sick" and her platform presentation was "Who's Your Hero?"
Kaitlin answered when the question was asked why she decided to participate in the Miss Deaf Georgia pageant and what about her experience at the Miss Deaf America pageant:
"I decided to do this to get the youth more involved with their Deaf community and learn about their heritage and background. Where would GAD be after all our privileged senior citizens are gone? Who will be there to pass along our history? I saw this as my goal as Miss Deaf Georgia.
At the Miss Deaf America pageant, I learned that we are all like snowflakes - individual, different, special, UNIQUE. I will never forget this life-changing experience because it helped me mature into a young lady and I met so many wonderful girls that I will never forget in my lifetime. This is an experience that I will pass on to my younger generation to come."
