Ellena Shahbandarian is a junior at Glendale High School. She has been attending GHS for three years and she’s currently not involved in any sports or other clubs. However, she is going to be joining other clubs next year when she has more time. Ellena is currently the president of both the Children’s Hospital LA Club and the Breast Cancer Awareness Club.
Ellena was not the founding president of the CHLA Club, but she chose to continue its mission due to her future plans in the medical field. Doing something related to medicine in high school makes her feel really good.
The club works in association with the Children’s Hospital located in Los Angeles, California. The purpose of the club is to help raise money for the patients there and to help bring awareness towards the sicknesses that they have to live with.
During club meetings, members are most concentrated on what their next step is going to be to raise money for the children who they have chosen to help this year. This includes coming up with fundraiser ideas and other events that they will organize in order to help those children in need.
This year, CHLA Club members are helping a young boy who has cancer, and they have been meeting with him and his family over Zoom and holding multiple events to help people learn about the kind of cancer that he has.
“We pick one specific patient every year to focus on and we help that patient,” Ellena said. “Building a bond with the family, and being able to help them, is an amazing experience and something that everyone should experience at least once in their lives.”
Ellena added that she really hopes that “the club will continue to be a thing in the upcoming years, because it’s truly inspiring to see how you can change the lives of kids that are struggling.”
“This club is an incredible way to start involving yourself in pediatric medical care if you want to go into that field in the future,” Ellena said. “It will look amazing on college resumes and is an amazing experience.”
CHLA Club meetings are held in Ms. Jahshan’s Room 4414 during lunchtime, every other Thursday. The club currently has 34 members, but all Nitros are welcome to join.
Ellena is also the president of the Breast Cancer Awareness Club at GHS, which is yet another organization related to the medical field. The purpose of this club is to inform people about breast cancer and the ways that they can detect the symptoms of this disease as early as possible.
Club members will be making informational posters regarding breast cancer and posting them around school for people to see. During meetings, club members are most concentrated on how they are going to inform people about the seriousness of this disease.
Breast Cancer Awareness Club meetings are held every other Wednesday at lunch in Ms. Sansui’s Room 6101, and they currently have 19 members.
Ellena hopes that this club continues in the future, because breast cancer is an extremely serious matter that is not spoken about as much as it should be, and it’s definitely something more people need to know about.
“This club is extremely effective in helping you understand breast cancer,” Ellena said. “We work with patients who have or previously have had breast cancer and inform others about the disease.”
If you are interested in joining the Children’s Hospital LA Club, you can find them on Instagram: @chla.glendale. And if you want more information about the Breast Cancer Awareness Club, please follow them on Instagram: @bcac.glendale.
