I don't think the flip has a mic input but it could still work for a number of circumstances. If you can get some good pieces done you might can leverage it to find a sponsor to get some better gear.
Another thing you can do is use the flip to record video then replace its audio track with a new track.
Think like a podcaster. Put in your budget to get something like the Audio Techica 2020 USB vocal mike. It plugs into you PC and uses a high quality condensor mike for VO (voice over) work.
Another option is to create an audio slideshow. You can use static photos from a still camera for the visuals. Then you can put a VO track on top.
You can do this in Microsoft Movie Maker. The most space efficient way is probably using a program like Soundslides. Here is a demo we threw together in about two minutes, dropping random pictures and a VO demo track from professional Will Lyman.
demo
The camera really does catch everything. Things you don't notice in normal conversation the camera captures and exposes. Which leads to another rule.
10) If you are interviewing more than one person, as part of a panel interview make sure the other panelists are non-distracting. Example, have the second person look toward, or into space toward the interviewee, or toward the interviewer.
If you were to go look at the documentary
here
And start at the 10:00 mark you will see a couple of students being interviewed. Then the visual changes with a series of pictures.
I will let you in on a little secret. The video was so bad and so distracting with the second person not knowing where to look we had to replace the visual.
Professionally speaking every scene should have a director that is looking at the screen while it is being shot to make sure it is being done correctly.
Like robotics, we learn as we go and sometimes the mentors are not always there to help straighten things out but we got it fixed in 'post' which is the last chance to fix anything.
.