I grew up in an interfaith family, with a Jewish father and a Christian mother.

“I grew up in an interfaith family, with a Jewish father and a Christian mother, and my parents decided to raise me Christian. I was baptized, I had communion, but I never really identified with Christianity, nor had much of a choice in practicing it. I wasn’t supposed to be questioning my practices and beliefs, but I was questioning them.

“When I got to college, I began exploring my Jewish identity by going on Birthright Israel. Just being in Israel, I finally felt like I was a part of something. When I came back to the United States, I started going to Shabbat at Hillel JUC because that was the part of Judaism that really drew me in. I loved that Shabbat was something we did every single week. It was special, and it was all about self-care and spirituality.

“I was eventually asked to become president of our Hillel’s Shabbat committee. Now, I’m Hillel president, which is kind of crazy. Four years ago, I never would’ve thought that I’d be Hillel president.” — Carolyn Brodie, University of Pittsburgh