Extracurricular with Stephanie Vanos and Eddie Geller

In front of the camera lens for the first time during this show, Eddie and Steph open the pod talking about their week including their takes on the Netflix show, Adolescence (spoiler alert at 15:30-22:00). They get into the podcast and Steph shares her mid-season/mid-year progress report as a new School Board Member (22:00). They discuss highlights from the first few months (25:07) and Steph shares her perspectives on what she has ...

This week’s conversation brings aboard the founder of Statecraft Media, Chris Mitchell. Chris is a consultant and insider—words we successfully put in his mouth—who begins by telling what, exactly, a political consultant really does (10:55). But beyond that, Chris lays out how to be a successful candidate and why authenticity is such a huge part of that. Afterward, Chris gave us some unfiltered takes on the early front runner for t...

Eddie and Steph welcome FL Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith mere days after making national headlines when he and a handful of other Democratic lawmakers were denied entry to Florida's immigrant detention camp, "Alligator Alcatraz." Sen. Smith walks us through the myriad ways that this camp is a dangerous grift and what happened when he showed up at the camp (8:55). Afterwards, we take a brighter turn as Sen. Smith explains how he—a ...

Hope Adelson and Brady Warren Graham are two bright, young OCPS high schoolers who joined Steph and Eddie to discuss a wide rage of topics. They shared their excitement over Zohan Mamdani’s win in NYC and what Democrats need to replicate (15:45). We then delved into education issues, including what it’s like to lose a teacher, censorship, and the impact of taxpayer-funded vouchers (26:24). Hope and Brady also shared t...

The podcast welcomes an old friend but new podcast guest: Rep. Dr. Anna V. Eskamani (8:35). Anna gives us a debrief on this most recent legislative session--with an additional focus on education and a massive expansion of charter schools (27:07). Then, Anna talks about using her platform to do the most good (34:52). Finally, we round out by digging into what keeps Anna going during her downtime (41:35) and how she’s thinking about ...

Congrats OCPS grads! Steph gushes about the graduations she's had the privilege to attend, then we investigate whether Eddie is getting enough protein and the latest on the FL budget process. Next, we get a 101 on charter schools from Steph and why not is all as rosy as it appears (12:22). Then, Texas is on the march to bring the Christian Nationalism into the classroom (27:05), and finally, we delve into the age-old question: Abun...

Our first guest! Steph and Eddie sit down with the Chair of the Orange County Democratic Party, Samuel Vilchez Santiago, to discuss the secret sauce of Orange County (7:45). Samuel also goes into detail about how the Democratic Party needs to embrace immigrants in the age of Trump if they want to win elections (38:03). Sam's Instagram: @samuelvilchezsantiago

Steph's Instagram: @VoteVanos

Eddie's Instagram: @gellered Sam in Teen V...

Steph and Eddie recount a busy weekend and explain what a “Vibes Pocket” is. But much more importantly, they explain the plan to gut Medicaid, how it impacts our schools, and what we can do to stop it (13:38). Then they dig into a provocative article from the New York Times entitled, “Has America Given Up on Children’s Learning?"(22:57) Lastly, they dig into Dr. Oz and the MAHA movement (32:32).

Stephanie digs into some recent news about teacher layoffs (3:13) and then gives a quick update on the funding fight for AP, IB, CTE, AICE, and Dual Enrollment classes (6:37). Afterwards, Eddie and Steph count down their top (or bottom?) three bills from this most recent Florida legislative session (9:54). Lastly, Eddie and Steph debate the merits of political ambition and whether that’s a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing (...