Kendall Campus Student Is A Finalist For NPR’s College Podcast Challenge
“Oh my God, what do I do?”
The thought dashed into Isabel Paz’s mind as her school—Doral Academy—was locked down in 2022 after an armed intruder entered the campus.
As she peered through the windows of her first-floor classroom, the slightly built high school junior saw cop cars flood the area.
“I was shaking,” she recalls.
Frantic, the teenager called her mom. There was no answer. So she left a voicemail.
The incident was eventually cleared without injuries, but the tense moment left an impression.
Two years later, Paz recreated that haunting voicemail for the opening of a podcast—When Faced with the Barrel of a Gun—she produced for an English composition course in the spring of 2024.
Late last month, the podcast was selected as a finalist for National Public Radio’s College Podcast Challenge.
The 19-year-old Honors College student at Kendall Campus is one of 10 finalists nationwide vying for the $5,000 prize.
A winner will be announced in April.
“We listen to hundreds of entries every year,” said Janet W. Lee, an NPR producer. “The moment I started listening, I was really impressed by the host’s decision to reenact the voicemail from the shooting.”
Paz, a pre-nursing student, is competing against students from Ivy League schools such as Princeton University and Dartmouth College, and other academically-rich institutions like Stanford and Duke.
If she wins, Miami Dade College will celebrate back-to-back victories in the competition. Kendall Campus student Michael Vargas Arango won last year’s contest.
Her journey to this moment has been shaped by personal challenges.
When she was 13 years old, Paz was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia, a condition that causes a fast heart rhythm and can lead to symptoms such as dizziness, fainting and shortness of breath.
She spent weeks in the hospital. Despite the health scare, Paz was inspired by the nurses who cared for her and decided to pursue a career in nursing.
Today, the sophomore has transformed from an anxious, unsure freshman to a campus leader.
Since the fall of 2023, she has served as an illustrator and photographer for The Reporter.
Paz is also vice president of Health Occupations Students of America, a student organization focused on developing healthcare skills, and treasurer of N.U.R.S.E., the pre-nursing club at Kendall Campus.
Additionally, she is the program coordinator for Xplora, a club that allows students to teach STEM lessons virtually to children in Peru. In that role, Paz organized a service trip to Peru and raised $2,000 for the nonprofit FNE International.
“Little by little, without noticing, I started doing things that I was passionate about,” Paz said.
Last summer, she participated in a graphic design study abroad program in Seoul, South Korea.
In the fall, Paz founded StoryBytes, Kendall Campus’ student-led podcast platform.
“She’s able to do so much with very little resources or funding, and really motivates and inspires her staff,” said Emily Sendin, an English professor at MDC and adviser to StoryBytes.
Beyond her podcasting success, Paz earned the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society Hites Transfer Scholarship, a $7,500 award recognizing academic achievement and community engagement, last month.
She is also a semifinalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, which provides up to $55,000 annually for tuition, books and living expenses to 60 students pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
Paz, who aspires to be a travel nurse, is expected to graduate this semester with an associate degree in pre-nursing. She hopes to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania.
“A lot of the things I’ve managed to do are because I was lucky to start on the right path and I was dedicated enough to stay on it,” she said.
To listen to Paz’s podcast, visit https://tinyurl.com/bdf9wr8r.
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