This is part 12 and the final article in a series highlighting the academic success of Barry University student-athletes.


MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- There's one thing you can bank on with Jelena Momirov: you'll find her with a smile on her face.

"I was born with a smile," the Barry University junior rower said. "My mom always told me I was laughing when I was born. I'm like my dad. He used to tell me, 'Smile, and the world will smile with you.'"

Since she's been at Barry, Momirov has had a lot to smile about. She was a member of last year's NCAA Championship team -- the first in the rowing program's history. It was a team that did not lose a race all season. She holds down a 3.7 grade point average in biochemistry with a minor in biology. She's earned Dean's List honors in all three years at Barry. She was selected as a Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association National Scholar-Athlete in 2015. She was named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll the past two years. As part of her biochemistry studies at Barry, she's also earned Doctor's List honors the past two years. 

She's served as a chemistry student tutor in Barry's Department of Physical Sciences, and a teaching assistant for the school's Department of Biology. Momirov has logged clinical hours with a cardiologist based in her hometown, as well as at Mount Sinai Medical Center and Aventura Hospital in South Florida. She also worked with athletes in a sports medicine health center in Serbia.

Yet maybe her finest achievement is something she hasn't even completed. 

In March, Momirov attended an American Chemistry Society National Meeting and Exposition in San Diego with Barry professor Dr. John Boulos. The two of them have been searching for a cure for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and neurodegenerative diseases. It's an ongoing research project that began in the fall of 2014 that she hopes will eventually attract pharmaceutical companies. The research is based on the synthesis of selective muscarinic receptors for neurodegenerative diseases.

"I like to work in the lab," Momirov said. "I'm just thinking about the benefits of the drugs, and how they can help people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and all those neurodegenative diseases. That's a popular medical topic right now, and as a future doctor, this is a good start."

Momirov plans to attend medical school after graduating from Barry. She's studying for the Medical College Admission Test, which she plans to take this summer, and has applied for internships. She's taking 18 credits per semester, she wakes up early for rowing practice most mornings, and trains other afternoons. Some days, she's often scrambling back to the lab in half-rower, half-chemist mode.

"My professor is always teasing me because I have my rowing gear on and my lab over it," Momirov said. "He says, 'Did you finish your practice?' Those are the only clothes I wear -- rowing gear and my lab coat. Everything else is collecting dust in my room. I'm kidding."

She says this, of course, with one of those patented smiles her dad, Miloje, and mom, Smiljka, so widely chronicled. It's a perfect example of her inner glow. Need more proof? Check out the Buccaneers' national championship picture on the podium from last year. Look who's beaming the brightest.

"I'm just happy," Momirov said. "All those challenges, they're making me happy. I feel good when I smile. My dad is always smiling. That's why I'm smiling."

When Barry coach Boban Rankovic recruited her out of Zrenjanin, Serbia, she was smiling that day, too. Rankovic, also of Serbian descent, saw a video Momirov sent him of her rowing during her high school days. His response?

"Jelena, pack your luggage, you're coming here to Miami," Momirov recalled. "I was so happy."

It was the realization of her longtime dreams, which started at age 12 when her goal was simply to become a better rower than her older brother, Milos. In Serbia, she trained for two hours in the early morning, rowing 20 kilometers by herself. After school, she would put in another 15-20 kilometers on the water. Then there were days at small clubs where she trained alone.

"I was totally independent," Momirov said. "It just helped me to be brave, to take challenges in other aspects of my life. I see rowing as part of my childhood in helping me grow up. In rowing, you don't stop until you're done. It's a lot of endurance. I was just in a single by myself, and I was just thinking about my purpose in life."

It was a period in her life where she didn't have her big brother or cousins, Nikola and Veljko, to turn to as she often did. Milos is four years her superior. Nikola and Veljko rowed together, earning a Serbian National Championship. Veljko and Momirov are the same age, and attended school together. Yet on those days on the water, she had no one but herself to rely on.

"We were always competing," Momirov said of her three siblings, as she likes to call them. "That's why I like competing. Everything that I achieved in my life, I attribute to them."

Her passion for the medical field is tied to family roots as well. Her mom used to work in pharmaceutical engineering, and her aunt, Milica Saravolac, was a chemist. "Blood is not water," Momirov said. That's the Serbian way of saying, "it runs in the family."

In 2011 and 2012, Momirov finished eighth at the European Junior Championships in the quad. This season, she's rowing in the Varsity 4+ for the Bucs, who are ranked No. 1 in the country, and coming off a title at the Knecht Cup. Barry will compete in the Sunshine State Conference Championships April 29 in Sarasota, Florida. It's another opportunity to achieve something special on the water again for the Buccaneers.

"I came here because I like to work in a group," Momirov said. "Back home, I was doing it on my own. Here, I have 20 other Jelenas next to me. All the girls on the rowing team are hard workers, and they infuse energy into the team to help us improve and get better. We all contribute energy to the team. 

"For me, that national championship was just the cherry on the top of the whole season. I felt so powerful. We worked so hard that whole season. That just showed me how people can be so strong when they have that trust within each other. We had so much passion, trust and strength on that team. We shared so many beautiful moments together. The whole season was just great, winning every race. Even the meeting we had with (Barry assistant professor and coordinator of sport psychology services) Dr. Lauren Tashman, where we all cried, that was really special."

Those weren't sad moments, though. Not for Momirov. That's not in her DNA. No, sad faces are what her dad essentially trained her to avoid. Speaking of training, aside from the rowing, Momirov has trained to become a medical field specialist, where she hopes to make an impact in many people's lives. She owes a lot to Barry University for that.

"I have a feeling when I came here I jumped 10 stairs," she began. "First of all, when I came here, I learned a new language. I like how Barry is really multicultural. I have friends from all over the world because of Barry. The professors here are so smart, and they really want to help you. I really feel bad when I don't get an A. It shows that I don't respect their teaching. I really like how the coaches are always telling us, 'You're students first and then athletes.' It's amazing."   

Spend a few minutes with Jelena Momirov, and you'll see the amazing side of her.