Jessica Kent '09 appears on Good Morning America

Interview featuring Kent and others covered community service and interfaith leadership.

New York, New York -- Brandeis junior Jessica Kent has received her “15 minutes of fame.” As a national fellow for the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), Kent was recently interviewed by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts for a special feature that aired in January on ABC. The two-part series, she says, was 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 we 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 has seen much growth since its start less than ten years ago. In 1998, 20 people would meet in a living room and today, the group has ballooned into a movement involving more than 10,000 people worldwide. The staff size has increased from five to 22, and the IFYC is engaging students from universities across the country.

“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.”

View a video clip here: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4176595