Elisa Morales recently received the Community Service Award at the 11th Annual Hispanic Heritage Banquet hosted by the Garland Association for Hispanic Affairs.
GAFHA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting higher education by providing educational scholarships for Garland Independent School District students.
Morales grew up in Garland and attended GISD schools until the age of 12, when her parents moved to the Rio Grande Valley. She continued her education in Donna, Texas and graduated as salutatorian of her class in 1999. After high school she attended the University of Texas at Austin for three years.
In 2003 Morales moved back to her beloved hometown and began working for the city of Garland as a scale house attendant at the Hinton Landfill. Throughout the last 15 years of employment at the city, she has been given the opportunity to work in various departments, including Customer Service, Safelight Garland and the city attorney’s office and has been in her current role in the city manager’s office for three years.
Through her employment at the city, Morales has enjoyed a number of volunteer opportunities like Unidos, Leadership Garland and United Way. She is also a member of the Kiwanis Club of Garland.
In 2010 she returned to school to finish her degree. She is currently working toward obtaining her Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Human Relations from Amberton University and is scheduled to graduate in May 2020.
When she is not running her daughter, Sydney, to all of her school activities, Morales can be found at a nearby park training for her next marathon. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Frank.
Information and photo provided by city of Garland.