By Brittany Lyte, Staff Writer | Connecticut Post

BRIDGEPORT — Middlebury native Katie Stevens stepped off the tour bus into a frenzy of fans vying for her autograph before the “American Idol” concert Friday at the Bridgeport Arena at the Harbor Yard.

Looking like the all-American girl next-door in a sun dress paired with a jeans jacket and white sneakers, the 17-year-old, who placed eighth on the Fox-TV show this season, soaked up screams from concert-goers hoping to glimpse their “hometown girl” in person.

Sisters Melissa and Allison Kozma, of Norwalk, arrived at the arena six hours before the show, wearing shirts and carting signs proclaiming their support for Stevens.

“Lee (DeWyze) is our favorite, but Katie is our hometown girl,” said Melissa, 24, who watched the show “religiously” with her 20-year-old sister for the first time this season. “I cried when she went home. And when we watched the auditions and saw a girl from Connecticut was going to be on, we were so psyched. We had to watch.”

Top-ranking “Idol” contestants usually draw that kind of adoration, Stevens said.

“Usually the fans are screaming for Lee,” she said of the season nine “American Idol” winner. “But these are my family, my friends. I know these people that are going to be in the audience. It’s so exciting. I’m going to get the most screams tonight. They’re pushing for the hometown girl.”

Stevens said she knew of more than 100 supporters who planned to attend the concert.

The “American Idol” tour will bring Stevens and this season’s other top-10 “Idol” contestants back to Connecticut to perform at Mohegan Sun later this month.

“I have like 340 people coming out for me at the Mohegan Sun show,” she said. “There’s nothing like doing this for the people that got me here.”

When the tour ends Aug. 31, the recent high school graduate said she’ll put off college to work on an album. Eventually she plans to study communications at Marist College, where she has deferred acceptance until the spring semester.

“I’m learning more right now than I ever learned in a classroom,” she said, “This is what I want to do, so why not go for it while I have it.”

via CTpost.com | Photography By Lindsay Niegelberg / Connecticut Post

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