{"id":963239,"date":"2021-01-15T00:44:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T05:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/meet-george\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T13:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:47:14","slug":"meet-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/meet-george\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet George Kantelis"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Hi! My name is George Kantelis and I\u2019m the new Education Intern here at WFSU Public Media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I love working with the kiddos\u2014I worked as an after-school teacher before graduate school, and I\u2019ve worked several summer\u00a0<\/span>camp<\/span>\u00a0jobs across the country that have cemented my passion for childhood education. That said,\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019ve<\/span>\u00a0always had a love for childhood education\u2014e<\/span>specially<\/span>\u00a0as a child that was\u00a0<\/span>being<\/span><\/i>\u00a0educated.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Young

Aww, look at this little beneficiary of educational public media.<\/p><\/div>\n

As you may be aware, PBS KIDS\u00a0<\/span>launched\u00a0<\/span>tons<\/span><\/i>\u00a0of programs in the late 1990s and early 2000s. M<\/span>y favorite was probably<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Arthur<\/span><\/i>, which launched just a month before my 4<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0birthday; however, I was also a big fan of\u00a0<\/span>The Berenstain Bears\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(isn\u2019t it \u201c<\/span>Beren<\/span>stein<\/span><\/i>\u201d?),\u00a0<\/span>Liberty\u2019s Kids, Between the Lions, Dragon Tales, Zoom, Barney & Friends, Reading Rainbow,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Sesame Street,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Clifford the Big Red Dog,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Cyberchase<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(<\/span><\/i>I have the opening theme stuck in my head to this day)<\/span>,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Jay\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Jay<\/span><\/i>\u00a0the Jet Plane<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"3D

3-D animation may have been a bit ambitious for 2001.<\/p><\/div>\n

My point being is that PBS KIDS properties were always on in the Kantelis household. Not just the shows, either\u2014the games, too!\u00a0<\/span>Arthur\u2019s Reading\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Race<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was a favorite of mine. I even remember winning my 3<\/span>rd<\/span>\u00a0grade spelling bee and thinking to myself that\u00a0<\/span>Arthur\u2019s Reading\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Race<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was the secret to my success.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Childs

I won the fourth grade spelling bee, too, but I’m not here to brag.<\/p><\/div>\n

As<\/span><\/i>\u00a0a child, adults constantly told me to value being a little kid while I could, and<\/span>\u00a0that advice helped me to<\/span>\u00a0gain an appreciation for the child-like wonder that\u00a0<\/span>I noticed in few adults. As an adult, I held onto the values that I developed as a toddler and developed them even further.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As I grew older, I gained an appreciation for media at large and decided that I wanted to directly contribute as a filmmaker. Consequently, I went to Georgia State University with a camera in my right hand and student debt in my left. About halfway through my undergraduate career, I<\/span>\u00a0noticed an alarming trend in\u00a0<\/span>all of<\/span>\u00a0my film studies work\u2014I invariably wrote about children\u2019s media. An essay about<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Spirited\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Away<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>here, a paper on\u00a0<\/span>Craig of the\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Creek<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>there\u2014analyzing children\u2019s media became my bread and butter. During my junior year, I\u00a0<\/span>met<\/span>\u00a0with one of my favorite professors, Dr. Gunn.\u00a0<\/span>I confessed to her that, while I enjoyed film production, her class and a few others proved to me that the mos<\/span>t important thing to me was the analysis of children\u2019s media. She convinced me to pursue graduate school and\u00a0<\/span>study children\u2019s media in that capacity\u2014so I did!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve<\/span>\u00a0just started my first week here at WFSU, and I can already say with confidence that it\u2019s easily the most fulfilling work I\u2019ve ever done. I get to research children\u2019s media\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span><\/i>\u00a0work with the kiddos directly.\u00a0<\/span>That\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0the dream. That brings that rare, tangible kind of happiness that you can really hold onto.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– George Kantelis, Education & Engagement Intern<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi! My name is George Kantelis and I\u2019m the new Education Intern here at WFSU Public Media.\u00a0 I love working […]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":963243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-963239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ed-scoop"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 11:44:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":965492,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963239\/revisions\/965492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}