DAPHNE, Ala. — The Alabama School Counselor Association named Bayside Academy headmaster Tom Johnson its 2010 “Counselor Advocate of the Year.”

The association donned Johnson — headmaster of 14 years — with the award because of his support for education counselors; its members honored Johnson at the Nov. 18 luncheon at the Riverview Renaissance Hotel in Mobile.

Johnson said he found out about the recognition in early November. The award was open to any high school administrator from Alabama.

Johnson puts forth a lot of effort for the Bayside Academy counselors: He hosts an annual breakfast for the school’s counselors, in conjunction with bringing a college-admissions director to speak with counselors. Johnson cited admissions directors from Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University and Stanford University.

“They come in and we host them and local school counselors come in and ask them about admissions,” said Johnson, who has worked in academic positions for more than 40 years in public and private schools. “It allows the admissions director to get to know the schools in the area.”

Johnson — who has served as an upper school director, assistant headmaster and headmaster — also supports his students’ needs by providing two counselors on staff, one to aid each aspect a young student may need counseling for.

“One is a college counselor, Mary Ann Willis, and Amanda Hembree deals with the emotional side of counseling with the students,” Johnson said. “So, we have a combination. We deal with the college prep, but we also deal with a lot of issues kids deal with today. Just because they’re at school doesn’t mean those issues go away.”

Bayside also has been innovative in its counselor programs.

“We were one of the first schools to produce the ‘Peer Counseling Program’ through the Jennifer (Claire) Moore Foundation,” Johnson said.

The Peer Counseling Program trains students to become counselors their senior year, and they counsel other students, whether peers or younger students.

“So, you have high school students counseling younger students on campus,” Johnson said. Bayside Academy comprises kindergarten through 12th grades.

The school also has a program titled “Community of Concern,” which informs Baldwin County and Mobile County school parents about some of the issues today’s students are dealing with.

“We’ve had schools from Mobile and ourselves come together and form this community of concern for providing information for parents dealing with drugs, alcohol, texting and other issues students face today,” Johnson said, citing St. Paul’s High School, UMS-Wright, McGill-Toolen and St. Luke’s High School as Mobile area schools that attend the event. “The community of concern is to inform the parents, so our concern there is on the adults.”

The counseling department at Bayside Academy submitted Johnson’s application to the Alabama School Counselor Association, and he said he was honored to receive the recognition by the state and by his own staff.

“I was pleasantly surprised, and I thought it was a great honor to be selected by the counselor’s association. It was an honor to have all those counselors give me the recognition,” Johnson said, adding that he gives credit where it is due.

“I told (the Bayside counselors) that this wouldn’t have happened without them and the work they do.”