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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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