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For the second year in a row, a counselor from ÌÒ×ÓÊÓƵ has been recognized with the highest counseling award in the state. Kimberly Jones of Nan Gray Davis Elementary School is the Alabama School Counselor Association’s Counselor of the Year.

Jones, who has been a counselor for six years at Davis, was recognized during the Alabama School Counselor Association’s conference in Montgomery. She will represent the state at the American School Counselor Association’s conference next summer, where she will be eligible for national recognition for her work.

“It’s been humbling to receive an award like this. I am proud to be able to represent my school,” she said.

Jones began her career in education as a first-grade teacher at Tanner-Williams Elementary. She also taught fifth grade at Maryvale Elementary. She decided to become a counselor, she said, because “I wanted to help more children beyond my classroom.”

At Davis, Jones takes a data-driven approach to working with students who need social or emotional support and individual coaching. “I do a lot of small group work to be able to help kids who have had difficult experiences,” she said. Her duties include leading character education sessions, she said, which include an emphasis on positive character traits: Trustworthiness, empathy, perseverance and teamwork.

In addition to working with students, Jones manages the school’s Care Closet, which supplies uniforms and shoes to students from underserved communities, and also manages Davis Elementary’s Food Sharing Program with Feeding the Gulf Coast, which supplies weekend snacks and meals to needy students. Jones mentors new counselors in the district; supervises student interns; and serves on the school’s Compliance Monitoring Helper Team.

Dr. Monica Motley, Coordinator of Transformational Improvement and Director of Guidance and Counseling at MCPSS, said that Jones’ award is a valuable recognition of the effectiveness of the district’s programs. “We’re extremely proud of the hard work and dedication of the school counselors in demonstrating exceptional work they’re doing with their comprehensive school counseling programs,” she said.

MCPSS counselors have been very focused on providing students with access to high quality, data-driven, comprehensive programs, Motley noted. “To win not once, but twice, just shows you the high caliber of school counselors we have in our district.”