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role while ensuring her fellow teens
receive due recognition. Sydney’s
commitment to the well-being of her
peers and the advancement of the
group’s goals makes her a rising star.

NAOMI DOPPELT

Naomi Doppelt,
16, lives in
Huntington
Woods and is a
rising star at
Farber Hebrew
Day School,
where she is in
the 11th grade.
Naomi takes
the highest level
courses offered.
As an extremely conscientious student
with a love of learning, she finds great
success. Her sights are set on a medical
career as a doctor, and she has done
her research and knows what it takes
to meet that goal. Her grades earned
her an invitation to the National Honor
Society, but she more than surpassed
the other qualifications of community
and school service and character.

What is more amazing is her
involvement in the school and greater
community. Naomi has volunteered to
coach the middle school girls’ basketball
team because she loves sports. She is an
avid participant, a member of both a
basketball and a soccer team.
Naomi is on the Jewish Fund Teen
Board for a second year, was invited to
be and, for a second year, is a teacher
assistant for the Dale Carnegie class,
which she attended as a student. She is
a leader in B’nei Akiva and has traveled
to seminars that foster learning in
leadership skills, which she also uses as
an active volunteer in her other youth
group, NCSY, where she is on the junior
board.

ELLA DOTAN

Ella Dotan, 18,
lives in Rochester
Hills where she is
soon to graduate
from Avondale
High School. She
is a rising star at
the Chabad
Jewish Center of
Troy.
Ella has been at
the forefront of
Jewish teen engagement as a freshman
in high school. She helped launch a
Jewish teen class, where teens meet
every week to learn about Judaism
and earn college credits. She has since
organized and participated in these
classes for four years.
She also launched the Jewish Teen
Club, which meets periodically
throughout the year and brings Jewish
teens together in a fun and Jewish way,
and she has served as president of the
club since its beginning.
During Ella’s free time she has
volunteered at different programs and
events and has served as part of the
staff at the Hebrew School of the Arts
and Camp Gan Israel. Ella is a true
star in the Jewish community and,
throughout her years in high school,
has made a significant difference in the
lives of those around her.

ELISHAMA ELLIS

Elishama Ellis,
16, lives in Oak
Park. The Farber
Hebrew Day
School student is
a rising star at
Kehillat Etz
Chayim in Oak
Park.
He is dedicated
to his community
and is on time
— or early — for every single service
and has frequently made the minyan.
More than just a participant, Elishama
is the Gabbai of the minyan and has an
uncanny ability to memorize people’s
Hebrew names (along with their
parents’ names as well). He does all this
with a great sense of humor.
Elishama often leads services on
Shabbat and holidays, and he even
has given a few divrei Torah around
baseball, which is his passion. Few can
compete with Elishama on team spirit
and commitment as he is a powerful
presence in full uniform on the Farber
baseball and basketball teams. That
team spirit shined when he helped
Farber’s Chidon Hatanach’s team to
compete in the nationals in New York.
Elishama is always there to help a
friend or to joke with a classmate or a
shul-mate; when he is around, we know
that things are looking up because he is
not just a rising star himself, he inspires
others to rise up to a higher level as
well.

SHIRA MENDELSON

Shira Medelson,
17, lives in
Huntington
Woods, where she
is a junior at
Berkley High
School and a
rising star at
Congregation
Beth Shalom in
Oak Park.
Shira is a
straight-A student, taking multiple AP

Meet these
teens making an
impact in their
communities.

2024
Rising
Stars

continued on page 18

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