North grad to appear on 'Good Morning America'

Brandeis University junior Jessica Kent is about to get more than her "15 minutes of fame."

As a national fellow for the Interfaith Youth Corps, the Williamsville native was recently interviewed by "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts for a special feature that will air in mid-December on ABC. The two-part series, she says, will broadcast to a national audience of 10 million.

"'Good Morning America' was interested in our personal stories of religious grounding and transformation through involvement with community service and interfaith leadership," Kent said. In the interview, she spoke about what motivates her to serve her faith community and the greater interfaith community, how childhood experiences have shaped her involvement and what she's done to create an interfaith movement.

Kent, along with 12 other Brandeis students, recently returned from the IFYC's annual national conference in Chicago, and she was asked to join Eboo Patel, the organization's executive director, and six other IFYC students for the interview. Specifically, she says, Roberts wanted to interview people who are leading the organization and find out why they are involved.

The IFYC, founded in 1998, was only 20 people meeting in a living room, but today the group has grown into a movement involving more than 10,000 people worldwide.

"It was an experience of a lifetime to broadcast our organization's vision and accomplishments to such a large audience," Kent said. "I hope the show will catch the nation's eye and get people interested in telling their own faith story and becoming involved with interfaith initiatives from wherever they are. The national highlight is a big boost of energy for the movement. I'm eager to see it materialize in increased numbers and initiatives."

A psychology major and women and gender studies minor, Kent has been involved with interfaith work at Brandeis University since her freshman year. She joined the Religious Pluralism and Spirituality club, led a spring semester brown-bag lunch series "How Can I Find God?" and was elected the campus relation coordinator for Hillel during her sophomore year.

She is also a BUILD (Brandeis University Interfaith Leadership Development) fellow.

Brandeis, the only nonsectarian Jewish-sponsored college or university in the United States, is located near Boston.

She is a 2005 graduate of Williamsville North High School.