Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School bookkeeper Lisa Morales was awarded the Non-Instructional Employee of the Year Award on Sept. 10 in her office. This award is part of the Caliber Awards, a program by Broward County Public Schools that recognizes employees who have excelled as teachers, principals, assistant principals and school-related employees, directed by Principal Michelle Kefford.

Morales’ award is a recognition of her skills as a bookkeeper and highlights the value her and other non-instructional staff have in the Broward County educational system.

“She’s such a positive force on campus,” senior Ella Maurice said. “I’ve visited her office and been in a line of students just stopping by to say hi. She is so welcoming and amazing to talk to and I think students, teachers and admin alike can appreciate her. I am so happy that she won Non-Instructional Employee of the Year, she deserves to be honored and get her flowers. I was able to see her and congratulate her the day it was announced. I truly hope that she’s been able to enjoy it and feel the love we all have for her.”

Having built strong relationships with students and staff during her time at MSD, Morales has also been a supportive figure for students in the past schools she has worked at.

“I first met Mrs. Morales when I was in fifth grade; she was my aftercare counselor at Heron Heights,” Maurice said. “I can’t recall my first impression, but I remember that she was my and everyone in our group’s favorite counselor. She’s always been so kind to everyone. I was really sad when she left to come work at Douglas. It was really great to see her again freshman year… She’s never turned me away, even when I have stupid questions and always checks in with me and how I’m doing.”

Morales has worked at MSD for 15 years, with six of them being as the school’s bookkeeper. As a bookkeeper, she is responsible for keeping records of financial transactions, paying bills and allocating funds for students, administrators and teachers.

“I hope to continue for a few more years until retirement,” Morales said. “I want to do my job well; I’m happy with it and I enjoy it. My favorite part of the job is the interaction with the students and the teachers. I know that I am stressed a lot, but I’ve met some wonderful kids and great people that I work with, that’s what makes me stay here.”

Morales started her post-high school education with community college in San Diego, California, but did not complete it. She has a passion for finance work, originally rising to the bookkeeping job because of the knowledge she gained from her prior job at a bank for 14 years.

“I would encourage people to go into the finance industry if that is something that interests them because there are a lot of different roles in finance that they could work in, not necessarily bookkeeping, but there are a lot of job opportunities for someone that is interested,” Morales said.

She did not start at MSD as a bookkeeper though; initially, in 2009, Morales was a part-time on-call employee in the cafeteria and went full time two years later. She transitioned to the office a few years later and worked in the guidance department. She became the high school bookkeeper in April 2018 and plans to continue until retirement.

Morales allows student clubs to be run, as she takes care of project approvals, money collection, reimbursement and purchase order forms. Project approvals are approvals needed to run any sort of on campus or club-related activity, which includes fundraisers and money collection for clubs. Money collection forms allow clubs to collect cash or money via MSD’s eStore. Purchase order forms allow clubs to buy items for their club such as club shirts, through a club account. This is all a part of managing internal accounts.

“Essentially, I take care of something called internal accounts, which is student generated income,” Morales said. “Whenever there are clubs, fundraisers, departmental expenses I usually pay those. It’s basically money that is raised for the students that should be used for the benefit of the students and the school.”

The work that she does every day for the school, whether that be accounting or helping students, has been rewarded through the Non-Instructional Employee of the Year Award. Nominees of the award, including Morales, must submit a packet with two letters of recommendation to their principals or director. Then, one School Related Employee of the Year will be chosen from the county as the overall winner.