Aurora U. alum selected for Milwaukee Bucks’ dance team

AURORA, Ill. September 1, 2006 - Aurora resident Tierra Johnson has been named to the Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball team’s Energee! dance team for the 2006-07 season.

Johnson, 20, graduated from Aurora University in August with a major in recreation administration. She was among 250 women who tried out for the 19-member team and was the only Illinois resident accepted.

Energee! has been entertaining and cheering Bucks fans since the 1991-92 season.

In addition to performing at Bucks’ home games, Energee! appears at corporate functions, charity events and other community activities. They also conduct dance workshops throughout the year that are open to the public.

Johnson received AU’s Spartan Award, the school’s top student honor, at the May all-university awards reception in the University Banquet Hall.

The award recognizes a student’s scholarship and service to AU and the Aurora community. Faculty vote the award for a senior who has made an outstanding contribution to university life during his/her university career.

A 2003 graduate of West Aurora High School, Johnson is the daughter of Vanessa Gaddy of Aurora and Reginald Johnson of Pensacola, Fla.

Tierra Johnson also won the Helen Finch Outstanding Undergraduate Recreation Administration Award presented to an outstanding undergraduate recreation administration major.

She chaired a site management committee for a recreation class service learning project that raised $5,000 for the Diveheart Foundation, a Downers Grove-based non-profit providing scuba diving experiences to disabled people.

Johnson also was the lead coordinator for “Pack the Place Promotions,” in which a sports management class conducted halftime activities during AU men’s basketball games.

She received several honors/scholarships including the Rho Phi Lambda Recreation Honor Society Nominee (2006), African American Chamber of Commerce Scholarship Recipient (2006), Aurora Auctioneers Scholarship Recipient (2006), and AU Ivy Leaf awards for scholarship.

Her community service projects included working as a reader for students needing academic accommodations for the American’s with Disabilities Act (2004-2005); vice president, Black Student Association (2004); facilitator and speaker at Illinois Park Recreation Conference on “Summer Programming for Teens”; treasurer, Omicron Delta Kappa National Honor Society; vice president, Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society.

Johnson worked for both the Aurora Heritage YMCA and the Fox Valley Park District. She owns and is head instructor for Elite Pageantry, an organization that she created to build self-esteem and poise in young ladies through modeling and pageantry techniques.

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