Briana Capasso ’20 – Educated Here. Employed Here.

Above, Briana Capasso ’20 stands with her sister and parents. Capasso is one of the nearly 3,500 AlumKnights who choose UCF as their preferred place to work. She recently celebrated her one-year anniversary in the UCF Student Health Services Center.

Above, Briana and her husband, Brandon, attend a football game in the Bounce House.

Briana Capasso, an Accounting Specialist I at UCF, was born in Altamonte Springs, and has lived here her entire life. From an early age, she realized the power that UCF has on the Central Florida community.

“I remember hearing my favorite teachers talk about where they went to school, and it was always UCF. As I got older, I began researching schools and filling out college applications, and realized that it was one of the top schools in the country, and here it was in my backyard.”

Capasso graduated from Valencia College with two degrees in paralegal studies and wanted to focus on political science at UCF. One of her professors had recommended the course of study because he saw how much Capasso was inspired by her legal studies.

Capasso graduated in the spring of 2020. Her class was the first COVID class, and, as such, did not have an in-person commencement ceremony until 2021.

“I knew that I wanted to do the walk,” Capasso says. She still has the commemorative duck she received that day; that duck has the all-too-familiar mask.

While at UCF, Capasso continued being fascinated by her coursework and was also working as a legal assistant. In addition to her degree in political science, Capasso minored in business administration. She plans to expand her knowledge and connections among various departments at UCF for many years to come.

“One thing I have always noticed over the years, from living here my whole life, was that whenever I heard someone mention that they work at UCF, they always said it with such pride,” Capasso says. “I always knew that UCF had a good work environment and they provided great benefits.”

When Capasso began exploring other employment opportunities, it didn’t take long before she received an offer from UCF.

“I had a friend who told me that UCF had so many opportunities for its employees to grow and advance,” Capasso says. “She also told me that everyone is here to help you out and to help you grow. That’s what made me want to take the position.”

Capasso says that it was one of the best decisions that she ever made, because she ended up in a “really great department with an amazing group of people.”

Capasso says her team is both eager to learn from each other, and to teach each other. And in the year that she’s been here, she had two major life-events – a wedding, and the birth of her first child – and her team went over-and-above in helping her celebrate these special times.

“It’s a super-positive, warm environment,” Capasso says, “UCF is awesome. There are so many opportunities here, and I love seeing how much it has grown just in the short time since I was a student. For UCF to have such a great reputation that people want to go to school here and work here just speaks volumes.”