"The future you see is the future you get"

     As I bring my first semester of college to a close and begin the headache of planning a Spring schedule, the goals and accomplishments I have reached are at the forefront of my mind. I often find myself asking, "Is this really my life?" and "Could this get any better?" I truly have been blessed with so many great things in the past year, but the best realization of all, was when I realized that I had made all of these great things happen. I set my goals and didn't settle for anything less. 
    I have been busier than ever trying to find the balance between school work, community service, my wonderful title, and social time, however I have not yet forgotten the order of importance of this things. I am loading up my schedule with classes and extra curriculars that will set me on my way towards a career as an entertainment broadcast journalist while living in a major city. This has been a dream of mine all through high school and I have often heard that my dreams are unreachable. At times I have begun to believe this, and then I remember that there is no such thing as an unattainable dream. 
If someone would have told me two years ago that I would be attending my dream school AND holding a national title, I almost certainly would have laughed in their face. At one point, the life that I am living now was merely an "unattainable" dream. Luckily, in the past year I have realized that those type of dreams simply do not exist. As children we are told that we can be anything we want to be, however at 18 years old I have a mind filled with thoughts that so many things are "impossible". I want my nieces, nephews, future children, and future grandchildren to believe that they can be anything they want to be at age 5,12,17, 22, 46, and so on and so forth. I want them to be raised to wish for the worlds largest dreams, and also be raised with the drive and determination to achieve them. Our future is in no one else's control except our own! Go out and make your changes to the world. Whether it is for your dreams or for someone else's. Whether it is community service for your dreams of being Miss Teen CAPTIVATING someday, or your dream of being the president of the United States, take action for your future.

Happy Election Day, and God Bless!

Miss Teen CAPTIVATING 
Kayce Patton

Beauty is in the eye of the...photographer?

This past weekend I had the opportunity to not only see my wonderful sister queens and director for the first time in a long time, but I was also lucky enough to have a photo shoot with the oh-so-fabulous Rick Martinez (who just happens to be my director). For months and months I have been excited for this shoot, I spent all last week preparing outfits and jewelry, made sure my hair was perfectly colored, and my nails had a tip-top manicure- but nevertheless, what happens 4 days before the photo shoot? I get sick. Really, really sick. I'm not talking little sneezes here and there, Dayquil will cure it all kind of sick, I'm talking body aching, nose dripping, coughing up a lung SICK. I felt awful and I'm sure I looked pretty awful as well, but what has being a pageant girl taught me?You suck it up, smile big, and do not complain (not always an easy task for me). However, it's just what I did. All. Day. Long. Another perk of being a pageant girl? I'm always surrounded by the best people. For 6 hours straight my fab director never once let me forget that I am ALWAYS beautiful and how proud of me he already is. Whether it was during my shoot or an outfit change, someone was consistently making sure my confidence was at it's peak. This official photo shoot was a BIG deal and letting someone down was not something I was willing to do. After an extremely long, extremely fun day of shooting, I felt like a million bucks. Yes, I was still sneezing, coughing, and sniffling, but I felt better about myself and more motivated about my goals as a queen than ever before. Sometimes all it takes is to know people are proud of you, and of course feeling gorgeous is always an added plus. Which (of course) you all are.

Do something every day so you can simply say "Congratulations" to yourself. Mine that day was not complaining and not letting being sick control my photo shoot. A small feat, but I was able to say I accomplished more than just taking a pretty picture.

It's the little things.

Miss Teen CAPTIVATING, 
Kayce Patton

WIXY 5000 Blood Drive

   This past weekend, I participated in the WIXY 5000 Blood Drive at the local mall in my hometown and let me tell you- no matter how many times I donate I always walk away with a certain gratitude and humbleness from knowing that there was a possibility that in that 15 minutes I may have saved 3 lives. While that may sound cheesy, corny, cliche, all of the above; it is also one of the most true realizations I have ever had. 
   As I walked in the door with my glittering sash and radiant crown, the room fell silent. Me, being the airhead that I am, simply assumed, "Well they must just be in shock over the crown!" However within the time that I was there everyone in the room literally gave me the treatment of a queen. All I could think was that they just didn't "get" the pageantry world. Why else would they treat me like I was gracing them with my presence? Like something small and fragile? Little did I know, I was the one who "didn't get it".
   They weren't giving me the royal treatment because they thought they had to, or because they REALLY thought I was THE queen (In my dreams!). As I was leaving, the woman who took my blood that afternoon took my hand looked right at me and said "Thank you. Thank you so much for your time and dedication." It finally hit me that they treated EVERYONE like a  small delicate flower because they genuinely appreciated the kind, generous donation they were making. That day the difference that I was making by giving my ONE pint, was a life changing gesture for someone. As a role model and avid blood donor, this was the most eye opening experiences I could have had. I gave one pint of blood at the WIXY 5000, but the workers and Community Blood Services gave me so much more than that.


Be humble. Be gracious.


Kayce Patton
Miss Teen CAPTIVATING 2012

As I sit here attempting to understand this blog, the phrase that continues to ring through my head is, "Is this real life?" I am not asking myself if I am REALLY taking two hours to try to make a blog but more so asking myself if I am REALLY writing this as Miss Teen Captivating?? As a national queen?? I am three weeks past my glorious crowning moment and the shock has still not worn off.

   As a small town girl who discovered her love of pageantry through the local county fair pageant, words cannot describe how utterly blessed I feel that this position has landed upon me. In less than one month my family, my life, my friends, and my perspective on many things have changed but only for the better. Bear with me as I get used to the "blogging" scene and I hope that you will all find one or two pieces of what I have to say interesting. 

   Of course my first priority will be to promote myself and the lovely world of CAPTIVATING to you. I am from Tuscola, Illinois... Another way to say that is "I live in the middle of a corn field", so if you're scratching your head wondering why you've never heard of it, it's because you haven't.  While I am from a small, central community I cannot wait to travel and experience all there is to experience through my title this year. With that being said if you are interested in having myself, or any of the CAPTIVATING queens at an event you can contact me at kayce.missteencaptivating@yahoo.com and as soon as I learn how to link things I can put you in direct contact with our director, Rick Martinez, through this page. Throughout my year I plan to do any and all events that I am able to including visiting other local and state level pageants, making community service appearances, representing the system in parades, and of course donating any possible time to volunteer with different organizations. As I complete each appearance I hope to keep all of you up to date on my experience and every little detail, however I know myself too well to say they will be timely ALL of the time ;)

Much love with glitter and rhinestones,

Kayce Patton

Miss Teen CAPTIVATING 2012