On the court, junior Kathleen Gates leads Georgia’s volleyball as team captain.

Off the court, she leads a team with an even more important cause — AutismUGA.

“AutismUGA’s a pretty new program,” Gates said. “It’s been around for three years now. We work a lot locally, especially with the Barnett Shoals School. We do REAL Saturdays there every Saturday, which is a workshop with the kids. We do a lot of different awareness events and fundraisers. Basically we try to help out wherever we can and expand autism awareness.”

Gates’ strong desire to help children with autism began with a childhood friend who had the disease.

▲ Kathleen Gates, a team captain for Georgia volleyball, devotes her spare time to AutismUGA — a program meant to raise autism awareness. Photo by MAX BEECHING

Gates’ interest continued to grow as she got older. In her senior year at John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington, N.C., Gates was required to write an in-depth research paper on a topic of her choosing.

She chose autism.

“During research for the project, I got involved with a program that helped out middle school kids with autism. That was pretty moving,” she said. “Back then, there was a lot less known about it. But most people still don’t realize one in every 100 kids has autism. That’s what sort of piqued my interest, was the lack of awareness.”

Once she came to Georgia, however, Gates had no real plans to get involved in the autistic community, but fate had other plans.

On her way to class one day during her freshman year, Gates saw a flyer posted outside of Aderhold Hall for a new club that would help raise autism awareness and support local autism programs — AutismUGA.

“I really wasn’t looking for a way to get involved on campus,” Gates said. “But I saw that flyer, called the number and ended up getting really involved and enjoying it.”

Gates has become so involved in the program that she has been appointed to the Board of Directors as Director of Awareness, requiring her to attend weekly board meetings and head the public relations team of AutismUGA.

“Basically I’m in charge of getting the word out about our events,” Gates said. “I’m also the liaison between the program and the athletic department when we want to give out tickets, get involved at sporting events, that sort of thing.”

Gates holds a lot of responsibilities within AutismUGA, but has also become involved in a variety of other organizations at the University.

“Kathleen is also our team’s [Student Athletic Advisory Committee] representative and the acting Vice President for UGA SAAC, as well as an active participant in FCA and Bible Studies,” head coach Joel McCartney said. “Although she sacrifices quite a bit to honor these leadership roles and areas of involvement, I’ve always witnessed her ability to remain balanced with them.”

Despite all of her commitments, Gates’ level of play on the court has not been hindered at all by her off-the-court philanthropy.

And with her priorities firmly in place, the junior does not appear to be slowing down.

“It’s definitely hard to balance everything,” Gates said. “Every day is very busy and some are worse than others.

“But I feel strongly about everything I’m involved in, whether it’s volleyball or AutismUGA, so I make sure I don’t procrastinate. I just have my priorities and I don’t waste time.”