One Minute With Abigail Goldring

Name: Abigail Goldring

Occupation: Eighth grade student at Edison School, Westfield.

Address: Westfield

Age: 13

Family: Mom, Laurie Woog, is an immigration attorney; Dad, Jay Goldring, works for the pharmaceutical industry. Sister Hannah is 10. Grandmother Josephine Woog lives in Connecticut, and grandparents Cynthia and Norman Goldring live in Lake Forrest, Ill.

Community activities: Member of Kadima and student at Akiba Academy, the Hebrew High school at Congregation Beth Israel, Scotch Plains. A member of the school yearbook club.

Hobbies: "Reading, watching TV, hanging out with friends, and waking around in downtown Westfield... but gymnastics is more than a hobby to me. I've been a student at Surgent's Elite School of Gymnastics since I was in pre-school. I've been on their gymnastics team for four years. The team keeps growing, and now there are 16 of us. The team meets 10 hours a week, four days a week for two hours and a day on the weekend for two hours. We train and compete in meets held at Surgent's or at other gymnastic schools."

Self -portrait: "I'm outgoing, kind, cheerful and determined -- especially to finish my homework."

Motto: "'Quality, not quantity'. My coaches in gymnastics say you don't have to do everything right but to make sure what you do looks good as you are doing it."

Greatest Accomplishment: "Establishing a scholarship fund at Sugent's Elite Gymnastics of Westfield for someone who couldn't afford it. I knew that gymnastics was an expensive sport, so I wanted to give someone the opportunity to do it. To raise the money, we made up a flyer and gave it out in Surgent's and to family and friends We had people send checks to the house. Surgent's is matching everything that we make, so it doubles the money. We registered one girl last year to take classes once a week. She also went to Surgent's gymnastics camp for two weeks over the summer. This year she is returning for classes, and a cheerleader is also using the fund this year."

Bad habits: "Picking at my cuticles and biting my nails."

Favorite TV Show: "’America's Next Top Model,’ ‘Gilmore Girls’ (but it’s not on anymore), ‘Singing Bee’ and ‘Hannah Montana.’"

Favorite food: "Ice cream -- anything without nuts."

Best childhood memory: "I have two great memories -- floating in the Dead Sea while on tour in Israel this past summer, and my bat mitzvah. It was a Mincha service held in February in Congregation Beth Israel. The party was held right afterwards with a lot of my friends and many of the members of my gymnastic team, all girls."

People don't know that I ... "Love dogs. We don't have one, but I play with my neighbor's dog a lot."

Last book I read: "That Summer" by Sarah Deffen. "It's about a girl reminiscing about the past summer, and how her is life changing after her sister moves out to get married. In school we are reading ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ by Sue Monkidd. I'm still reading this."

The biggest asset in the Jewish community: "My best friends are Jewish, and we like going to services at Congregation Beth Israel together. I've met friends all through Hebrew school and will meet more through Kadima."

The biggest problem in the Jewish community: "People have bat mitzvahs and then don't continue their Jewish education."

If I had more time: "I'd probably get together with friends more often, and maybe take a dance class and be involved in more school clubs, like the newspaper club."