Ketzel Morales embodies everything it means to be an advocate. Through her job, community involvement, and day-to-day interactions, her actions have rippling effects across our community.
“I feel like every time people think of making a change in the communities, they think it has to be a big thing,” Ketzel said. She doesn’t believe every change has to be monumental though, as long as you’re willing to give to your community. “I have this motto: Give me your time, your treasures, your talents. If you can give one of those three things to a thing you’re passionate about, I think you’re making a change.”
Ketzel works with families every day as an Outreach Coordinator for Jeremy Ranch Elementary School. She is focused on advocating for the Spanish-speaking community, immigrants, and those facing food insecurity through her work and involvement in the community. All these passions led her to join Park City Community Foundation’s Women’s Giving Fund in 2024, where she is a new member of the Steering Committee.
Ketzel moved to Park City when she was 11 and during her time in school, she was deeply inspired by her teachers and counselors to make an impact. She specifically mentioned Anna Williams from Latinos in Action, George Murphy, her Spanish teacher, and Samantha Walsh, an Intervention and Support Counselor, as educators who had a strong influence on her.
“Growing up in Park City was a different experience for me versus most of my peers. So, the way they helped shape my experience as a person led me to the education career path,” Ketzel said.
After going to Utah State University (USU) for Global Communications, Ketzel briefly worked in the nonprofit sector, before returning to Park City School District as a paraprofessional for an English Second Language class. She spent two years in the classroom with high schoolers before taking on her current role as Outreach Coordinator for Jeremy Ranch Elementary.
“I wanted to do something more with the future of tomorrow,” Ketzel said.
Ketzel’s own experiences and her work as an Outreach Coordinator are both contributing reasons behind her passionate support of certain causes. She said issues of immigration and helping the Spanish-speaking community access resources are especially important right now. Working with kids and families has also opened her eyes to food insecurity in our area.
One of Ketzel’s favorite things about Park City is its sense of community. People here, in her experience, are often willing to volunteer time, effort, or resources to help others. At work, she often witnesses teachers and parents asking if there is anything they can provide for a child who needs something.
Ketzel joined Women’s Giving Fund as a way to get more involved with her community and the local nonprofits. She really wanted to know about the resources available for her students and their families, so she could more effectively help them. She said it also fit right into her interests, as she had previously been a member at USU’s Women Leadership Initiative and an intern at the Inclusion Center.
Through her work at the school, she often finds herself working with the organizations that Women’s Giving Fund supports, like Summit Community Gardens + EATS and People’s Health Clinic. “I feel like everything I do intertwines with the community partners that the Women’s Giving Fund is helping to fund.”
When Ketzel first came to a Women’s Giving Fund social event, she felt anxious and like she didn’t belong. But when she spoke to the other women there and learned about the issues and nonprofits they were passionate about, it calmed her nerves. She found the group welcoming and had a great time connecting with others in a purposeful way.
Ketzel says Women’s Giving Fund gave her the ability to connect with other women+ whose values align with her own, and she’s encouraged some of her friends to join this year. “When women get together,” Ketzel says, “we get more stuff done,”
Ketzel is leading the first nonprofit open roundtable event of 2025: Serving Undocumented Folx: Becoming an UndocuALLY. Learn more here.
Posted in: Uncategorized, Women's Giving Fund, Our Impact, Social Equity, For Nonprofits