BYU Commercial Music Alum Shares the Wonders of the Animal World With Kids
Constant Wonder KIDS, which had its first season in fall 2024 and has just begun its second season, is a BYUradio show produced by BYU commercial music alum Paige Darrington. The show explores the unknown nature of the world around us and the first season focused on animals and their amazing abilities, rescue operations and relationships people have with the natural world.
The show is a descendent of a more comprehensive version, geared toward older audiences, that has been on BYUradio since 2022. Constant Wonder KIDS consists of episodes from the original version of Constant Wonder that are cut to appeal to kids. As the producer, Darrington adds narration to contextualize the material in a way that appeals to children and explains terms that may be new. For example, in the episode “A Daring Gi-Raft Rescue,” which tells the story of endangered giraffes stuck on an island, she offers enthusiastic delight about her favorite animal. Her storytelling makes the difficult topic of endangerment navigable, and the story of the rescue offers an upbeat ending to what could otherwise be a scary story.
“My kids are in the asking-questions-constantly phase of childhood, and the podcast gives them interesting topics that they learn so much from,” says Liz Russell, a BYU elementary education alum. She said the podcast length (15 minutes) is great for running errands with her two kids (ages five and eight), and that they love the show. “I think that the podcast is the perfect happy experience to share with your children. It’s educational, fun and interesting.”
Darrington brings a wide variety of skills and experiences to the table: the experience of working on the parent show as a student; experience from her BYU commercial music major and communications minor; and experience teaching children music and theater from her own company, Sing and Play Productions.
“The BYU School of Music commercial music program did a lot to prepare me for making a living in the arts,” she said. “Not only was I taught important technical and musical skills, but I also was connected to other talented musicians, sound designers and audio engineers. The network I created in college is the network that I use today to hire help on the various projects that I’m working on.”
When asked what advice she would give current students in the program, she said, “My advice to current CFAC students is to take advantage of the jobs and opportunities that are available on BYU campus. If you can find a student job that matches your interests and then add value to the department from your position, you can open up lots of future opportunities.”