An 18-year-old University of Wisconsin Oshkosh student who is reigning as the current Miss Oshkosh and who is a “huge musical theatre nerd” said she still has a few nerves about singing at the start of the UW Oshkosh versus UW-La Crosse Homecoming game at Titan Stadium.
Kate Lidtke is a first-year student from Oshkosh, double majoring in early childhood education and special education. She said her mom has a degree in early childhood education and growing up she always wanted to be just like her.
“I love my school and I’m so incredibly proud to be a Titan—I just want to make everybody proud and do my very best,” she said. “I practice nearly every day!”
Lidtke will be singing prior to the 1:30 p.m. game on Saturday, Oct. 20, at J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.
She graduated from Winnebago Lutheran Academy in Fond du Lac this spring—a couple months following her crowning as Miss Oshkosh. Lidtke performed with the the WLA honors choir and traveling choir and participated in theatre all through her high school years.
As a pageant contestant, she declared a platform that she has been sharing in her travels, “Special Needs, Special Minds: Including those with Special Needs.”
Lidtke said she has three cousins with special needs, so they were a big influence in her deciding her platform for the Miss Oshkosh and Miss Wisconsin pageants and in her decision on a college major.
“I have such a love and passion for children and especially those with special needs,” she said, “I want to be a young person in the community who they could look up to.”
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