FOX 35 Care Force: Academic tutor Diane Revels continues passion for teaching after battle with cancer | FOX 35 Orlando
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FOX 35 Care Force: Academic tutor Diane Revels continues passion for teaching after battle with cancer

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Published  April 9, 2025 11:31am EDT
FOX 35 Care Force
FOX 35 Orlando

FOX 35 Care Force: Academic tutor Diane Revels

The FOX35 Care Force is honoring a retired teacher turned academic tutor who just can’t stay away from the classroom, even as she faced the battle of her life with cancer. Academic tutor Diane Revels focuses her efforts on making sure her students meet their goals and can progress to the next grade. She retired with more than 40 years of experience, but the classroom called her back.

The Brief

    • The FOX 35 Care Force is honoring a retired teacher turned academic tutor who just couldn’t stay away from the classroom, even as she faced the battle of her life with cancer.
    • Academic tutor Diane Revels focuses her efforts on making sure her students meet their goals and can progress to the next grade.
    • With more than 40 years of experience teaching thousands of students, Revels said she still gets a thrill when the lesson clicks for a child.

ASTATULA, Fla. - The FOX 35 Care Force is honoring a retired teacher turned academic tutor who just couldn’t stay away from the classroom, even as she faced the battle of her life with cancer.

Academic tutor Diane Revels focuses her efforts on making sure her students meet their goals and can progress to the next grade. 

She retired with more than 40 years of experience, but she said the classroom called her back.

Meet academic Tutor Diane Revels

The backstory:

With more than 40 years of experience teaching thousands of students, Revels said she still gets a thrill when the lesson clicks for a child.

Revels has more than 40 years of experience teaching thousands of students.

Revels' teaching specialty is English Language Arts.

She retired from being an elementary school teacher back in 2015. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there was a drastic need for academic tutors as students started to fall behind.

"I have a passion for students," Revels said. "I love what I do."

But then, in 2021, the classroom became too challenging when she was diagnosed with cancer.

"I was diagnosed with large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma," she said. "Very devastating. I went through six rounds of chemo. Between the second and third rounds of chemo I lost all of my hair, and that was devastating for me, but I survived."

Revels said she had to miss out on that fall semester, but she chose to come back to Astatula Elementary School in January 2022.

Academic tutor Diane Revels focuses her efforts on making sure her students meet their goals and can progress to the next grade. 

'She brings a sense of joy'

What they're saying:

"I guess once a teacher, always a teacher," Revels said. "I love students. I was not able to have children of my own, so these are my children. I even keep in touch with the children that I taught years ago when I started teaching in 1980. Those students are now 50 years old, and I do keep in touch with quite a few of them. I just had that passion. I want to see that passion in their eyes when they say I’ve got it."

"She brings a sense of joy, and she’s very detailed to the students that she’s working with and brings her expertise to get them to lean into their future and be better at what they are," said Revels' friend, Pamela Duke, who is a fifth grade teacher at Astatula Elementary School.

"All it takes is that one little spark to get you going," Revels said. "I just thoroughly enjoy it. I’m very blessed. My health is good right now."

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The Source: This story was written based on information gathered by FOX 35's Amanda McKenzie in an interview with academic tutor Diane Revels.

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