The Detour Degree is an 8-episode summer podcast that spotlights unconventional paths in education. From jazz-fueled STEM to VR classrooms and micro schools, each episode features disruptors reimagining how we teach and learn. It's for the rebels of the road less graded—where learning detours lead to powerful transformation.
Episode I: The Sound of STEM
A Conversation with Stephanie Matthews about Jazz Lab™
Release Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2025, at 12 pm ET
Stephanie Matthews is the Executive Director of A Tribe for Jazz and creator of Jazz Lab™, a program fusing music, STEM, and emotional growth. A producer and award-winning photographer, she advances jazz through education, film, and innovation—driving equity and impact.
Jazz Lab™ Mobile Pilot
Powered by the Battelle Central Ohio STEM Grant
Jazz Lab™ Mobile is a traveling, hands-on STEM experience for students ages 9–14, blending music and science to inspire curiosity and creativity. Designed for elementary and middle school students, this innovative out-of-school program brings high-impact learning directly to communities with limited access to STEM resources.
Episode II: The harmony of hackathons
A Conversation with Chinat Yu about Hackathons
*Release Date: Thursday June 5, 2025, at 12 pm ET (Live session)
Chinat Yu is a researcher, educator, and founder passionate about reimagining education through generative AI and hands-on, project-based learning. He holds a master’s degree in Learning, Design and Technology from Stanford University and has led initiatives like Quest2Learn and MentorMates to help students learn by building. Chinat has spoken at AIxEducation and the Johns Hopkins DELTA Symposium, and was named a Top 50 MLH Hacker for his impact on student innovation.
Learn more about Chinat's work:
- Quest2Learn: https://www.q2l.app/
- Mentor Mates: https://www.mentor-mates.com/
- MLH Top 50: https://top.mlh.io/2023/profiles/chinat-yu
- Johns Hopkins Life Hacker: https://engineering.jhu.edu/magazine/2023/05/hopkins-life-hacker/
- Johns Hopkins ITGL Hackathon: https://ventures.jhu.edu/news/pava-center-continues-to-deepen-relationship-with-the-school-of-education/
- Stanford AI + Learning differences Hackathon: https://acceleratelearning.stanford.edu/conference/ai-learning-differences-hackathon/
Episode III: The melody of microschools
A Conversation with Kunal Dulal about Microschools
*Release Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 12 pm ET (Live session)
Kunal Dalal is the Administrator of AI and Innovation at the Orange County Department of Education, supporting 28 school districts in integrating AI into K-12 education. A former wilderness guide, principal, and tech entrepreneur, he holds master’s degrees from Harvard and UC Berkeley. He founded the award-winning company Accidentally Extraordinary and later co-founded generativEDUCATION. Author of *The AI Parent*, Dalal champions human-centered AI in education. He sits on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland board and has recently launched his new movement, AI Parentology, committed to using AI to elevate human potential in parenting and learning.
Episode Iv: The vibe of virtual reality
A Conversation with Adam Mangana about Virtual Reality Schools
*Release Date: Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 12 pm ET
Virtual reality and other immersive technologies are transforming how students learn. In this episode, Adam Mangana, President and CEO of OptimaEd, shares how the first virtual reality school in the United States offers a vision for educating today’s learners for tomorrow.
What if a classroom had no walls and the school day started with a headset instead of a homeroom bell? We’re exploring a fully immersive K–12 virtual reality school that’s reimagining what it means to learn, connect, and grow. From navigating ancient Rome to solving math problems in 3D space, Adam Mangana shares how VR is transforming student engagement, breaking geographic barriers, and challenging every assumption about “traditional” education.
Episode v: The groove of gardening
A Conversation with Denise Dunn
*Release Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at 12 pm ET
What if the best classroom had no walls—just soil, sunlight, and endless possibility? In this episode of The Detour Degree, we explore how gardening can grow more than vegetables. It grows curiosity, resilience, and real-world learning. From planting seeds to sparking minds, this is education rooted in nature.
Denise “Niesy” Dunn is a passionate garden enthusiast, content creator, and advocate for nature-based wellness. Through her vibrant social media presence and community-centered endeavors, she inspires people to reconnect with the land, find peace through plants, and see gardening as both a healing practice and a dynamic educational tool. Her platform blends storytelling, science, and soul, reminding us that growth—whether in gardens or in life—often starts with getting our hands a little dirty.
Learn more from Niesy Dunn:
Episode vI: The Quaver of Quantum
A Conversation with Temitope Adeniyi
*Release Date: Thursday, June 26, 2025, at 12 pm ET
In music, a quaver is a fleeting note—brief, delicate, full of motion. In language, it means to tremble or waver. And in this episode of The Detour Degree, quaverbecomes a metaphor for the strange, powerful world of quantum computing—where particles dance between states, reality blurs, and possibility vibrates at the tiniest scales. Today, we explore how students can find harmony in uncertainty and why the next generation of learners might be quantum by design.
Follow Temitope Adeniyi on LinkedIn.