Amber Johnson Receives Inaugural ‘Bosserman Award’

Amber Johnson, 11th-grader at , received the inaugural Dr. Phil Bosserman Award for PRIDE Show Choir on May 25.

“Johnson’s quiet leadership and optimistic can-do attitude keeps KHS’s popular PRIDE focused forward for more great entertainment,” said Beth Bosserman Curts, who established the award with her husband, Gerry Curts, in her father’s memory.

The award recognizes the underclassman who best exemplifies the core values of PRIDE, King’s show choir. The student is chosen by 12th-graders.

Phil Bosserman passed away near the end of 2011. He was a Methodist minister, pioneer sociology professor at the University of South Florida (USF) 1967-76, and lifelong peacemaker, Bosserman Curts said. He loved to sing and responded to music with deep passion and profound joy throughout his life, including his last years when he was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

Several of Phil Bosserman’s seven children attended King, including Doug Conley, Brian Conley, Marc Bosserman and Beth Bosserman Curts. His sons performed in the band and Bosserman Curts sang with the chorus (she continues to sing ensemble a cappella with the Toast of Tampa Show Chorus).

His granddaughter, , graduated from King on June 1. She was the 2012 captain of PRIDE, a singer-songwriter who inspired a new level of performance confidence in the troupe and brought the school unique visibility through original Relay for Life songs to cure cancer, beautiful ballads, and tributes to friends, Bosserman Curts said.

In the past few years, PRIDE has seen increased event and media outreach for the growing 30-member show chorus, Bosserman Curts said. Tampa Bay’s superior level singing and dancing “Glee” troupe was recently featured on FOX 13, in a 2011 Super Bowl commercial, at Walt Disney World, and at other venues of community pride.