The Anatomy of Ambition

Striving for Success//Posing triumphantly, Senior Iris Elimelech shows off her dazzling gold trophy won in a speech and debate competition. Being part of the Speech and Debate Club here at Coronado High School, Elimelech had worked extremely hard by accomplishing everything from her grades to her recent competition, in which she showcased her skills of gathering information and writing her speech for the competition. One thing is for sure: her work has finally paid off. (Photo courtesy of Iris Elimelech)

Coronado High School is known for its incredible academics as a public high school, with a huge variety of classes one could take, amongst many other opportunities, from clubs to sports, and even AP Academy. Students of Coronado High School, as a result, strive for greatness and get to pursue their dreams in a variety of ways, and some work above and beyond to reach their goals. One such student, Iris Elimelech, is an example of this.

Iris Elimelech is a current senior at Coronado High School, and she aims to become someone who helps and changes lives. She’s an exceptional student, taking several AP classes, and having an over-the-top GPA. Elimelech has received several accomplishments and awards in her time in high school, including being a semifinalist in Nevada’s National Speech & Debate Qualifier competition, 2nd in Nevada State Treasury Art Competition, and being a current National Merit Semifinalist. Iris was also a part of several clubs and activities in high school, the most notable ones being Speech and Debate, Mu Alpha Theta, Coronado’s Varsity Quiz, and Smile Train, a charity organization aiming to raise money for people with cleft (facial deformities). She also makes money as a digital artist on Instagram, with a page of more than 4k followers, and donates her money earned to medical nonprofits. Iris Elimelech has several dreams in life, but her main goal is to help people.

According to Elimelech, working in the medical field has been one of her greatest goals since around middle school. Iris claims that, specifically, she would like to be either an anesthesiologist or someone who works in neuroscience. However, Iris isn’t the typical person working to become a doctor to help people. 

Elimelech had encountered some personal medical and healthcare situations with doctors in the past, and that bad experience with those doctors had motivated and ensured her goal of becoming a doctor as a result. These medical situations involved her having some symptoms that doctors, even specially medically trained with this situation, could not find the cause. This, she explained, was due to a multitude of research pointing to unfair and under-researched medical cases for women. 

To put it simply, these doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her because they didn’t know what symptoms or cases to look for in women. This problem has been shown to be historically present in a variety of health cases for women, as the anatomy of a female is different from that of a male, so some health cases could be diagnosed incorrectly if not checked properly, and some medical cases, like Iris’s, may not be identified. One example of this that she had found was that many women in the past had been deemed to be “hysterical,” when there was actually a deeper, more dangerous medical problem they had. 

This problem stuck with Iris, and she wanted to make a change for all the women who had not had proper medical care like her. However, she didn’t just stop at wanting to become a doctor. In fact, this setback actually prompted her to write a speech for her speech and debate competition on it, showing how much she cares about the topic. What seemed to be a setback became a success, and because of this, Iris Elimelech ended up being a semi-finalist for the Nevada nationals Speech and Debate competition. 

Elimelech not only wants to be a doctor who can give the proper care to women and research on different medical issues concerning them, but also strives to be a doctor who listens to their patients and their symptoms. In her experience, she’s encountered many doctors who simply just rely on numbers rather than thorough tests and listening to their patients. Therefore, Iris stresses the importance of her, not only being a more careful and thorough doctor, but an empathetic one.

Again, Iris is no typical high school student. This past summer, she actually had the opportunity of a lifetime: being able to experience what it’s like to be a doctor and help real patients. This opportunity of a lifetime gave Elimelech the chance to take a trip to Romania, where she worked hands-on in a hospital and ICU, shadowing real surgeons and doctors. According to her, this was a life-changing experience, and actually fueled her desire to become a doctor along with another personal reason. One patient that she had seen in the surgery room for a cleft surgery was a young child, and, after learning his backstory, she had developed a new importance as to why she felt the need to become a doctor. This child was in foster care, and had a facial deformity, and had been on the waiting list to get surgery for years. 

This opened Iris’s eyes to the fact that not everyone can get the help that they need, especially when they’re in a situation where there aren't many doctors available, or surgeries that can be done, or the patient just doesn't have the financial means. She wants to be a doctor who doesn’t just treat the first person on the list. 

“You don’t decide who gets treatment and who doesn’t,” she explains, “Instead of just being a doctor, I want to help more people who don’t have access to the care that I give.”

While shadowing doctors in a hospital, Elimelech also had the chance last summer to participate in a medical anesthesia-based summer program at Stanford called SASI. At this summer program, she was actually able to learn more about how to become a more empathetic and compassionate doctor and how to care for a patient, which, as mentioned, is one of her top priorities when entering the medical field.

Going along with further research on women and her personal experiences, Iris aims to publish her own research on Alzheimer's, especially Alzheimer's in women, as women have been shown to be ⅔ of the population with Alzheimer's. Iris even has done research already on the matter, with her AP Research article specifically targeting this topic. 

“I want to explore how certain hormones may affect women specifically, and take a future step in the right direction for that issue,” she explains.

Alzheimer’s had also specifically captured her attention because of her grandmother, with whom she’s very close. Elimelech says that Alzheimer’s has affected her grandmother, prompting her to do research on it as well, and she explains how sad it is to watch a loved one go through things like losing cognitive senses and abilities and the ability to learn and enjoy things. 

Iris states, “No matter who you are–your gender and age–you shouldn’t lose the capacity to enjoy learning.”

Not only has working with doctors and medical professionals inspired Iris for her career in the medical field, but someone close and personal has inspired her to be the doctor she wants to be. As one of her current activities, Iris actually works at the front desk of a dental office where her mom works. She states that one of the reasons she wants to be more of a doctor who listens and is empathetic towards her patients is because of watching her mom working. Her mom works as a dentist, and Iris states that it is so cool to see interactions with her patients because she treats them with warmth and joy. This is something that she strives to have as a doctor: the ability to treat future patients with the right care and attention.

Ultimately, Elimelech has accomplished quite a lot in her high school career, and she has overcome a lot along the way. She has worked tirelessly for the opportunities that she had and created for herself, eventually finding her passion along the way. She says that the biggest lesson she’s taking with herself throughout college is connection. In middle school, she stated that she never really joined clubs or activities, but in high school, she found her passion and goals through the people she met and the activities she joined. Elimelech strives to continue this throughout college, always opening herself to new things in order to find happiness and fulfillment. When asked to give three pieces of advice for high school students struggling with school and wanting to become successful with their goals and dreams in life, this was how she responded:

Iris finally advises to #1: Take school seriously because what you do now is going to affect your work ethic, especially in the future. #2: Start on college applications as soon as you can during senior year and go to Ms. Tidball every day after school, but also enjoy your senior year afterward. And #3: Don’t rewrite or do your AP Research paper at the very last second.

At the end of the day, Iris Elimelech is an absolutely exceptional student and person, with countless opportunities and achievements. However, don’t think you need to be all that to accomplish your dreams as well. She didn’t just gain these things overnight: it was hard work. Everyone has their own journey in life, but nobody is exempt from the opportunity to follow their dreams along that journey, and Iris Elimelech is proof of that. Even when it feels like something is too hard, remember all of your hard work and dreams, and it will eventually add up to something incredible in the end.

“Never lose passion for what you’ve done and accomplished these years.”