18 | APRIL 29 • 2021
ever since and is now part of the Teen
President Board. Mandi has not only
volunteered with the participants but has
also become their friends, and her enthu-
siasm is contagious.
Mandi participates in all aspects of
Friendship Circle and has been active in
helping the staff whenever they call. Even
during the pandemic, Mandi was at over-
night camp, a regular at Sunday Circle
and some weekday after-school programs.
Parents of special needs students con-
stantly exclaim that Mandi brings out the
best in their children.
She is looking to continue her studies
post high school in a field that continues
her involvement in working with spe-
cial-needs children, teens and adults.
ELAN KLUGER
Elan Kluger, 17, of
Ann Arbor, is a
junior at Skyline
High School. He is
dedicated to aca-
demic excellence,
leadership, service
and communicating
big ideas.
Elan is a knowl-
edgeable and passionate Zionist, com-
mitted to his local and worldwide Jewish
community. He is an active member of
Habonim Dror-Labor Zionist Youth and
attends Camp Tavor, a unique, youth-led
camp experience in Three Rivers, Mich.
He will attend the camper leadership
training program this summer. Elan is
also a member of the inaugural Detroit
community cohort of LFT (Leaders for
Tomorrow) run by the JCRC/AJC of
Metropolitan Detroit.
Elan restarted the Skyline High School
newspaper after years of inactivity and
has been editor-in-chief for the past two
years. In ninth grade, he founded the
school’s Economics Club and leads a
team that is training for, and competing
in, the Federal Reserve’s High School Fed
Challenge. Elan also attained the rank of
Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
In May 2020, Elan began a weekly
newsletter titled Ruminations, compris-
ing his thoughts across a range of topics
(accessible at kluger.substack.com). He
is also a founding fellow in the inaugural
“On Deck Podcast Fellowship.” This pro-
gram focuses on helping fellows launch
and grow a podcast in eight weeks, while
interacting with podcasters across the
globe. Elan is the youngest fellow in a
cohort of over 100 people. His podcast
“IR Talk” is devoted to international rela-
tions theory. Season One will be launch-
ing at the beginning of May.
CAROLINE KRELL
Caroline Krell, 17,
of Ann Arbor, is a
senior at Pioneer
High School. She
has as a long history
of Jewish involve-
ment, starting in
preschool at Temple
Emanu-El in Oak
Park and making
her bat mitzvah at Congregation of Moses
in Kalamazoo. Caroline also spent a few
summers at Camp Tavor after moving to
Ann Arbor.
Camp Tavor cemented her desire and
obligation to help others. “It was all tik-
kun olam,” she said about an exercise to
build an understanding of privilege — as
in who has it, who doesn’t and the long-
term effects of not having it. It was a basic
map exercise, demonstrating through the
lack of grocery stores, public transporta-
tion, access to nearby medical care and
adverse environmental impacts the vast
imbalance in opportunity. She came back
from camp that summer with a tikkun
olam mindset.
At her high school she became active
in the gun-control movement through
March for Our Lives and led the Ann
Arbor chapter her senior year. When the
pandemic shut down the community
as we once knew it, she rallied and got
involved more than ever, connecting with
the Sunrise Movement and began work
on climate, jobs and voting rights issues
— all virtually. Caroline became a move-
ment leader in 12th grade.
The night after the presidential
election, she was on the University of
Michigan Diag, giving a speech that the
media covered about the necessity of
everyone having a voice in a democracy.
Her focus on helping elevate the oppor-
tunities and voices of others remains a
fundamental objective for her.
JORDAN MANELA
Jordan Manela, 17,
of Farmington Hills
is a junior at North
Farmington High
School where he is a
straight-A student
while also being
dual-enrolled at
OCC, taking
advanced mathe-
matics courses. He serves on the Student
Senate Executive Board, Junior Board and
LINK Crew, and is a Peer to Peer tutor as
a member of the National Honor Society.
Jordan has been both a regional and
state gold medalist for HOSA (Future
Health Professionals) and a top-five final-
ist at HOSA’s International Leadership
Conference representing Michigan in
medical law and ethics.
Since he was in eighth grade, Jordan
has been a madrich at Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills, where
he enjoys helping the students with their
learning and love of Jewish culture. He
also assists with the Better Together
program as part of his madrich responsi-
bilities where he facilitates conversations
between pre-b’nai mitzvah students and
seniors in the Jewish community.
Jordan plays the cello with the NFHS
Symphony Orchestra, was captain of his
Junior Varsity bowling team, and enjoys
all sports, especially baseball. Whether
volunteering with Miracle League baseball
or umpiring with NFWB baseball, Jordan
loves being part of the game and seeing
the joy it brings to everyone.
Jordan is actively involved with
the Opening the Doors Madrichim
Leadership Training program where his
empathetic nature toward those with
different abilities and needs has only
continued to blossom. Jordan belongs
to BBYO Greenberg AZA where he has
served on the executive board for the last
two years, first as mazkir (secretary) and
RISING STARS
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