Morales Takes First Steps Toward Career Goals

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Abraham Morales came to The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) in August 2022 from the small town of Brackettville, Texas, population 1,341, with big goals and an even bigger drive to achieve.

His determination put Brackett High School on the map as he excelled as a runner. In cross country, Morales won the Class 2A state championship in 2021 and was the runner-up in 2020. On the track, he was the 2021 state champion in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, and the bronze and silver in the respective events in 2022.

Morales – whose graduating class was just 36 people – earned a scholarship to compete in cross country and track & field for the Vaqueros. He is studying business management and plans on becoming an athletic director one day.

The product of a rural community in southwest Texas, Morales learned early on the importance of making things happen for yourself.

“Where I grew up, you have to go out of your way to get what you want,” Morales said. “Since I was small, I always worked hard and reached out to people. In high school I didn’t really have track coaches, so I had to train by myself and reach out to coaches to see what kind of workouts I should be doing. It all paid off, I won state, and that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t reached out for pointers.”

That initiative led Morales to several impressive opportunities during his sophomore year at UTRGV. He was chosen by head track & field/cross country coach Shareese Hicks and her staff to serve as a team captain in the 2023-24 athletic year and took an active role in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

UTRGV Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque hosted SAAC members at his home for a dinner to kick off the school year in August 2023. At the event, Morales talked to Conque about his goal of becoming an athletic director. He followed up on their conversation with an email that evening, asking about what steps he should be taking to reach his career ambition.

Conque shared some pointers and offered Morales a position as a summer intern for UTRGV Athletics, and the sophomore quickly accepted.

“Abraham is an impressive young man. It was a pleasure having him intern with our team this summer,” Conque said. “I always admire our student-athletes who are willing to step out of their comfort zones and are open to taking advantage of all the opportunities we offer at UTRGV. We love when our student-athletes want to learn more about our industry and hope they will become the next generation of leaders in athletics.”

Morales clocked 160 hours in the office across two months, beginning in May at the conclusion of his track season. He primarily worked under Sara Hernandez, the Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Strategic Initiatives, but also got to see and assist many other units within the athletic department.

His daily tasks ranged from research to social media. He aided with new ideas for student engagement and ways to enhance the gameday experience. He created a document to track followers across multiple social media platforms for all athletic accounts and came up with captions for current and future posts. He made a composite schedule of UTRGV’s 2024-25 contests, organizing the spreadsheet by sports and noting dates with multiple home events to help the marketing and creative teams plan for upcoming seasons. Morales also shadowed several departmental meetings to learn about external operations.

Every task he was assigned, no matter how big or small, was given full effort and attention and done to a high degree.

“He’s very curious. He asks a lot of questions, and that’s a really good thing because he really wants to understand how things are working. He’s very responsible, very respectful, and the biggest quality is that he’s a really good team player,” Hernandez said. “I was happy to have him here. I think he has a great future ahead of him and I hope this experience was the beginning of a great career.”

One of Morales’ favorite projects from the internship was assisting with the creation of UTRGV’s Our Valley, Our Team, Our Time campaign which debuted on August 7. He sat in on the initial concept meeting for the campaign, then did research to guide the look of the video. Morales compiled a detailed document breaking down similar campaign videos from other universities and with ideas he generated for UTRGV’s video that was presented to the campaign team. He watched as each unit in the department did its part to bring the vision to life and soaked up lessons about collaboration.

Morales felt pride as the campaign was rolled out and received positive reviews on social media, knowing he played a part in shaping this new and exciting chapter of UTRGV Athletics.

“That was something really great to be a part of because I got to work with each unit and each team had a certain task to do and it was cool to see everything come together,” Morales said. “I was really happy to see the reaction. It’s crazy how it all started in meetings, talking about it, and in the end everyone was working toward the same goal and we actually got it done.

“As an athlete, you don’t really think about the inside of athletics, you just think about the performance part,” he continued. “Working with the athletic department, I got to experience different meetings and see how it all comes together. I think putting in the work every single day, trying to come up with new ideas in this internship will help me as a leader for my team.”

Morales wants to pay it forward in his hometown and serve as athletic director at Brackett. As a high school AD, he’ll also be doing some coaching, so Morales took it upon himself to gain experience in that field this summer, too. He was the distance coach for Team McAllen, a summer track program that competes in the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation (TAAF).

Morales took the lessons learned during his two years at UTRGV, especially the importance of being consistent and not letting a bad practice ruin your progress, to his summer squad. His personable demeanor and empathetic leadership made for a smooth transition from athlete to coach.

“Every day after my internship, I went straight to practice. Five of our kids qualified for the state TAAF meet,” Morales said. “It was great to be a part of that. Seeing my athletes succeed motivated me as an athlete to keep going.”

After an accomplished summer of interning, coaching and training, Morales heads into his junior year with a humble confidence. Though the UTRGV community is a bit larger than the small town that raised him, he feels at home in the Rio Grande Valley. He’s thankful to be a part of the growth within UTRGV Athletics and he’s determined to continue representing himself, his town, his team and his university as he works toward his dreams.

There’s no limit to what his work ethic, passion and determination will help him achieve.

“This internship was a great experience,” Morales said. “It’s a great stepping stone for my career. I got to help with so much stuff and these techniques are things I can use in my future. I’m really grateful and happy to be a part of the UTRGV community.”