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Professor Kerry is a professor of Jewish history at Brigham Young University, where Tara completes her bachelor’s degree. Kerry is the first professor to take a special interest in Tara, and he challenges her to see what she is capable of. As a young Mormon woman, Tara feels she is expected to choose a traditionally feminine major and use her time at university to search for a husband. Professor Kerry pushes back against these beliefs by refusing to acknowledge them, instead urging Tara to apply for his Cambridge study-abroad program. When she is initially rejected, he tells Cambridge to reconsider, and they make an exception for her.
Professor Kerry recognizes the unique talents that Tara possesses due to her unorthodox upbringing, and he encourages her to see these talents and differences as strengths, not things to hide from others or be ashamed of. However, he also realizes that Tara is capable of more than what her upbringing gave her, and that returning to Utah, BYU, and especially the influence of her family will ultimately hold her back from her highest potential. His support gives Tara a profound new perspective on the opportunities available to her, and she likely would not have found her way to a graduate degree at Cambridge and a fellowship at Harvard had it not been for Kerry’s support.
