LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: I'm joined now by the winner of NPR's Student Podcast Challenge, Lilla Lanivich. Her podcast was among 2,000 entries to the challenge this year, and she won. Good morning, Lilla. How does it feel to be the winner?
LILLA LANIVICH: It feels crazy. I can't believe that everyone picked my podcast out of so many other talented middle schoolers.
FADEL: So tell me about making this podcast. How did you decide what you were going to do? And did you learn anything new about your family or yourself?
L LANIVICH: Well, sometimes I take Lopez for granted. I always love him. I always appreciate him. But when I start to look back on a few years ago, it's crazy to me still that he is the reason I'm able to do all this stuff.
FADEL: What is something adults maybe don't understand about young people like you who have long-term health conditions?
L LANIVICH: The adults don't always let us advocate for ourselves. Now, we're still kids, so we shouldn't be doing all of the advocating, but we should definitely be able to tell the doctors exactly what's going on. I've noticed so much more help after I'm able to talk freely.
FADEL: Now, your story is out in the world. It's on NPR. How does it feel? And what do you want people to take away from it?
L LANIVICH: It's always been my dream to get my word out there because so many people don't understand what my life is like, because when they see me, they just see, like, a normal kid. But really, so much is going on. So I'd say remember that there's so many invisible disabilities. So don't expect everyone you meet to be able to do everything you're able to do, and just sort of listen to your kids and people you know because they might be going through stuff that you never realized.
FADEL: Lilla Lanivich is a middle school student in Rochester Hills, Mich. She's one of the 90,000 students all over the country who shared their stories with NPR since 2019 for our Student Podcast Challenge, and she won this year's contest.
(SOUNDBITE OF GIA MARGARET'S "HINOKI WOOD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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