In Diane DelliBovi ’10 ’20MEd ’24EdD’s fifth-grade math class, making a mistake can earn you candy.
During the first weeks of school, DelliBovi encourages students to put their work on whiteboards and show the class where they went wrong. If someone forgets a placeholder zero, for example, she thanks the student for sharing before asking who else made the same mistake.
Inevitably, hands go up. Students who are accustomed to erasing their work the moment a teacher approaches begin to realize that being wrong isn’t something to hide.
“They get comfortable being wrong and being willing to then fix it,” DelliBovi says.
For DelliBovi, a triple Knight who teaches fifth-grade math and science, those small shifts can become some of the biggest victories. She remembers one student who made her feelings clear from the beginning: “I’m not going to like this class. I don’t like math.”
Then, after one lesson, the student offered an admission DelliBovi considered a breakthrough: “That was kind of fun.”
DelliBovi wrote the student’s name, the date and even the time on the whiteboard to document the moment she began to enjoy math.
“I did it. I broke through,” she says.
Finding Her Place at UCF
Growing up in Port Richey, Florida, DelliBovi spent much of her childhood dancing, taking ballet six days a week and appearing in The Nutcracker more times than she can count. She loved school but admits she wasn’t a teenager who had her future mapped out.
When friends began receiving college acceptances, one whose brother attended UCF invited DelliBovi to visit. She loved the university and Orlando enough to apply to just one school.
“It worked out because then I never left,” she says.
She even found her way back to dance. After learning UCF offered a dance minor, DelliBovi auditioned and earned a spot in the program, eventually choreographing the opening number of a student dance concert. But education became the place where she began to understand how her abilities could affect someone else.
While earning her bachelor’s degree in exceptional education, DelliBovi participated in a summer reading clinic led by Taylar Wenzel, a senior lecturer in UCF’s College of Community Innovation and Education. She worked one-on-one with a first grader who was struggling to read, and watching the student improve gave her tangible evidence that what she was learning could change a child’s experience.
“For the first time, I saw firsthand how my efforts could help a student grow, learn and gain confidence,” she says.
Wenzel became a mentor and role model. DelliBovi and her college roommate often talked about wanting to follow her example.
Always Learning
DelliBovi began her career teaching kindergarten, ironically the one grade she had insisted she would never teach. She later taught several elementary grades and worked as an instructional coach before returning to the classroom because she missed working directly with children.
Her exceptional education background remains central to her teaching. She also earned a gifted endorsement after encountering a particularly advanced student and realizing she needed to learn how to better challenge him.
“I remember thinking, ‘How can I best support this student?’” she says. “That question inspired me to seek answers and new approaches.”
That instinct has repeatedly led DelliBovi back to UCF. A principal encouraged her to pursue a master’s degree in math and science education, where professors including Sarah Bush, Ph.D, Juli Dixon Ph.D., Lisa Brooks ’06MEd’ 14Ed.D., Lisa Dieker Ph.D. and Enrique Ortiz ’07 ’09MSCpE ’14PhD helped reignite her enthusiasm for learning.
DelliBovi received tuition support from the Lockheed Martin/UCF Mathematics and Science Academy during her time at UCF, support that helped her pursue her education and begin building a career devoted to helping students succeed.
“I always want to be that lifelong learner and get better at what I’m doing,” she says.
When another opportunity from the National Science Foundation emerged to pursue a doctorate as a Noyce Fellow, DelliBovi returned again, eventually earning her third UCF degree in curriculum and instruction with a specialization in K-8 mathematics education.
Finding Her Why
DelliBovi is candid about the challenges facing teachers. She has watched friends and colleagues leave the profession and understands the pressure and emotional weight that come with caring deeply about students. She also knows the moments that make staying worthwhile.
Recently, she reconnected by FaceTime with a former student she had worried about for years and learned he was doing well.
“I could never forget you,” he told her. “You’re the best teacher I’ve ever had. You always believed in me.”
The student who inspired her to pursue her gifted endorsement is now a UCF engineering student.
“That’s your why,” DelliBovi says. “Watching a student grow, succeed and pursue their dreams is the greatest reward. It makes every challenge worth it.”
Today, DelliBovi also teaches college courses and mentors UCF education interns, passing along the encouragement her own professors once gave her. It is a future she never could have predicted at 18.
“I never even knew that I would want to get a master’s or a doctorate or teach college or any of that,” she says.
Her advice is to remain open to where life might lead. Not everyone needs to know the destination before taking the first step. Sometimes, the student who insists she hates math discovers it can actually be fun. And sometimes, the teacher gets to write down the exact moment she changed her mind.
As UCF embarks on its next mission, alumni like Diane DelliBovi show what becomes possible when Knights use their talents and experiences to help others believe in their own potential. Join UCF’s next mission and help build a future the world has only begun to imagine at goforlaunch.ucf.edu
