Law and Advanced Placement Government teacher Frederick Delello announced his retirement to be at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. Delello has been teaching for 36 years spread across six schools and two states, but after a notable 20 years, this school year at WJ will be his last.
Delello has been a well known name to the student body for his engaging teaching style and supportive personality. He strives to create an accepting and engaging learning environment by building personal connections with the students.
“My approach to teaching is number one, to build relationships with students, no matter if they are elementary, middle or high school,” Delello said. “It’s important to let them know that you’re there to help them, support them, show that you want to be there and enjoy being there. If students at whatever level believe that you care and believe that you like what you do, then that will help students to want to go to school and learn.”
The relationships Delello has built with students have left lasting impressions and his efforts to be thoughtful and fun do not go unnoticed by his students.
“Mr. Delello has a great uplifting personality, and I’ll always remember when we came in in the morning and listened to the Bills fight song before every class on Monday because he was either excited or sad that they won or lost,” senior Jack Potash said. “He was also very supportive. He always asked me when my hockey games were.”
One teaching strategy Delello is well known for is motivating students with rewards such as candy or Chipotle gift cards. He hopes that it won’t just inspire students to participate in class but also teach them the importance of giving and encourage them to do so as well.
“He does these things called Chipotle challenges, which are essentially ungraded pop quizzes, where you get to work with your table to answer questions correctly [and you get] a prize for whichever table wins,” freshman Abby Keehn said. “After a Chipotle challenge, the winning table gets a bunch of candy, usually like a full-size Hershey. One time the entire class had full attendance and he gave every table a bunch of candy.”
After an entire career of teaching, Delello has big plans for his retirement.
“The number one thing is travel,” Delello said. “Number two will probably be substituting at WJ when I’m not traveling. I will also be spending time with my parents in New York, who are very elderly and needy. I normally only see them three times per year, but I will be spending a lot more time with them. For me, traveling is the biggest.”
Delello achieved a lot in 20 years, as he was able to be a part of many different events and took advantage of many opportunities within the WJ community. After all he experienced, Delello reminisces on his time spent at WJ.
“I was SGA and Leadership teacher for the first three years I was here, and I loved doing the Homecoming,” Delello said. “Homecoming used to be huge. Each grade created a float. We did a whole thing out on the field with Homecoming princes and princesses, kings and queens. I was class sponsor, so I organized Proms and graduation, which I all enjoyed. We used to do two blood drives per year which I also enjoyed doing with the leadership students and SGA. I’ve chaperoned Model U.N. with Mr. Rodman, and that was a great experience and I learned a lot from Mr. Rodman. I’ve been a judge for debate, and I’ve helped out with sporting events by selling tickets and serving as one of the staff chaperones for many years.”
Another memorable experience he created here was organizing the spring break trips, which he has been chaperoning since 2007. Delello found these trips to be important for both him and the students.
“I loved traveling and I wanted to teach the love of traveling and experiencing places and cultures and languages that students may not normally appreciate,” Dellelo said “I wanted to be able to share that with students who might want to do that. Plus, it was the idea that students in high school who do take a trip abroad in high school are more likely to do a semester abroad in college.”
Delello has worked hard to create the best environment for his students and has been an active part of school culture since the beginning. For that, he will be remembered as an integral part of the community.
