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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