On Wednesday, June 16, Katarina Akridge was crowned Miss Minnesota's Outstanding Teen 2010. Katarina is from Woodbury and is a junior at East Ridge High School. She has been dancing since the age of four and has won numerous awards throughout the years of competitive dance. She has also been playing the piano since the age of five and is the recipient of the Minneapolis Music Teacher’s Forum Honors Award. In her spare time Katarina enjoys reading, shopping, and spending time with her family. Katarina plans to major in law and someday become a Supreme Court Justice.

Katarina’s platform is The Face of America: Accepting and Celebrating the Diversity of our Great Nation. Recently, she traveled to Europe as a Student Ambassador for the People to People Organization. The goal of her platform and the People to People Organization is to remove the common stereotypes we as a nation hold against people of different cultures and ethnicities, and vice versa.

Katarina is the daughter of Andrew and Linda Akridge. She is the youngest and their only daughter. Katarina has five older brothers: Damani, Eriasi, Terril, Leonard, and Terrence.