Being an "elite" person, as in intelligent, strong-minded, solves problems easily, etc?
Or just like strong?
In case #1 it comes down to the events in your life that shape you, if you can persevere, and if you have the mindset that you can do almost anything.
I can see what you're trying to say in my high school.
There are the strong jocks and douche bags. The there are the anti-social nerds and shut-ins. Then there are the well-rounded people, the not so well-rounded people, and the people that are a complete waste of human space.
In this variety of populous, it can be debated that either the jocks or the well-rounded people are elites in high school. Later on in life, those well rounded people will make it farther than 99% of all douche jocks (the 1% being those who become professional athletes, which could also be defined as well-rounded people considering you have to be somewhat smart).
So in my opinion, elites are people fast of wit, participate in the community, share knowledge with the world, generally don't have any enemies.