MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Every year about this time, members of our education reporting team spend a lot of time with their headphones on. They are listening to hundreds of podcasts sent in from college students all around the country for the NPR College Podcast Challenge. NPR's Janet Woojeong Lee brings us one of this year's 10 finalists.
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ASHLEY BLUM: Oh. I'm in my room. I'm laying in my bed. It's, like, 1 a.m.
JANET WOOJEONG LEE, BYLINE: Ashley Blum is a student at Hofstra University. She's 20-years-old.
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BLUM: I live in New York, and like many in my generation, a lot of us don't really understand our faith. Some of us are spiritual. Some of us are agnostic. And according to the American Enterprise Institute, roughly 1 in 3 college students aren't sure if we believe in God at all.
WOOJEONG LEE: Many of our best college podcasts involve students trying to figure out their place in the world.
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BLUM: I know I don't have all the answers, but I've experienced some pretty unusual things.
WOOJEONG LEE: Ashley talks about a series of childhood events. Her father died of cancer when she was 11; a traumatic move across the country; separation from her best friend that made her question her faith.
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BLUM: Losing my dad, getting bullied, transferring to Catholic school, being blind in one eye. I felt like I have lost control of my life.
WOOJEONG LEE: In her teen years, Ashley tried to deal with her anger by sharing her experience and talking about it in public.
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BLUM: At 13, I did my first-ever radio interview.
Why me? Why did we have to go through this? Why couldn't it have been someone else?
At 15, I started my own talk show.
Welcome to the first-ever episode of "Teen Talk." My name is...
By helping others, I really thought I was helping myself, but then the pandemic hit, and I broke.
WOOJEONG LEE: Along with millions of other teenagers, Ashley struggled with the anxiety and isolation that came with COVID. Then, in her senior year of high school, as the pandemic lockdown lifted, things changed. At a virtual mass held by her school, she began to rediscover her faith.
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BLUM: For the first time in years, I prayed to God instead of just telling him how mad I was.
WOOJEONG LEE: She ends her podcast with some advice for other students like her, struggling with these big questions.
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BLUM: If you're wondering if God is real, keep asking questions, and maybe consider my middle name, Faith.
WOOJEONG LEE: And shares with us another way she finds comfort and solace - in her singing.
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BLUM: Because today, God is more real to me than ever before.
(Singing) Hoping to find you. To find you. I hope you know. I hope you know.
WOOJEONG LEE: Janet Woojeong Lee, NPR News, New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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