Olympia High teacher awarded history organization's Teacher of the Year

SOUTHWEST ORANGE  Olympia High School teacher David Lovely not only is teaching students about history, but also, he is making some, as well.

Lovely recently won lineage-based history organization Daughters of the American Revolution’s Teacher of the Year award for Orange County. The award is bestowed upon deserving history teachers who go above and beyond with their teaching methods and getting students involved in the learning process.

Lovely, who holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education (social studies) from Florida International University, has taught in Orlando for 14 years. He spent four years at Memorial Middle, one year at Cypress Creek High and is now in his ninth year teaching American history at Olympia High.

“I just always found (history) fascinating, that we can look back now and say, ‘Why did this particular person do this?’” Lovely said. “I always wanted to find that answer. The only way to do that is to go back in history and see what they saw at the time.”

In fact, over the last three years, he has assembled a “time machine” history museum of sorts in the back of his classroom, which contains artifacts ranging from the Civil War — where the class begins each year — to modern times. Some of the artifacts are more than 100 years old. At each era along the way, items are passed around, and in a way the students get to go back in time. 

“Every day that we do something, we are literally the ones creating history.” — David Lovely

Members of DAR have to trace their lineage back to someone who fought in the Revolutionary War, and the organization delves into that link of history on a daily basis. For Lovely, that is part of what makes the award so special.

“Part of the prestige is that they deal with my very subject,” he said.

For Lovely to win the award, he first had to be nominated. Then, he had to receive letters of recommendation not only from school administrators but also from former and current students. He was first nominated by a mother of a former student.

“She said that he still talks about that history class today and he was getting ready to vote in an upcoming local election,” Lovely said. “(She told me) he went through the process of researching the candidates and everything they stand for. I try to teach the kids to vote intelligently.”

Olympia High Assistant Principal Nick Zambri and Social Studies Department Chair Chris Conrad both wrote to DAR expressing their recommendation for Lovely to receive the award. 

Now, Lovely will join winners from the other Florida counties to compete for the DAR’s statewide award. That winner then will represent Florida in the nationwide competition at DAR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

And although the award shows Lovely his work does not go unnoticed, the real prize for him is getting students to understand and care about history.

“Every day that we do something, we are literally the ones creating history,” he said. “I always tell them, ‘What type of history do you want the next generation to be learning about?’ and ‘Do you want to have a positive or negative influence on it?’”

Contact Danielle Hendrix at [email protected].