Community leader and business leader Dakeita Vanderburg-Johnson is the new director of the National League of Junior Cotillions of Cabarrus County. A one-person operation, the cotillion is all about teaching young people etiquette, manners and how to conduct themselves in social and business situations.

Classes will be conducted at the Cabarrus Country Club, Vanderburg-Johnson said. There are cotillion programs in 30 states, available through a national franchise organization. Vanderburg-Johnson plans to look at the National Corporate Cotillion, designed  for adults in corporate settings, next year.

The classes, for grades five through eight, begin in October and finish in April. “Children this age can be uncomfortable in adult social situations,” says Vanderburg-Johnson, who was president of the Cabarrus Arts Council for two years ending in 2010. She also ran Southgate Masonry and Lumber from 2002 to 2015.

Vanderburg-Johnson was also Miss Connecticut in 1983, and went on to coach contestants in the Miss America organization.

Vanderburg-Johnson will receive the All American Award from the American Red cross of Cabarrus County in November.