Abigaile Goodwin is 16 years old, and a junior at McCracken County High School. Goodwin is a very kind and friendly person, easily making friends w
ith others, and people enjoy being in her presence because of her often friendly, and optimistic outlook. Goodwin plays in the Mustang Marching Band as a clarinet. She has been playing the clarinet for 6-7 years, and she loves to play. Her favorite type of music to play is a march, for it is more aggressive. She often likes to go and play older music of hers that she found difficult and see how she has grown over time, and how the music that was once difficult for her, has now become easier. Goodwin describes how her feelings can differ before playing, during playing, and after playing. She explains that before playing she can feel excited and nervous, depending on what she is going to play, where she is playing, and how she believes she will do when playing. During playing, she explains that she often feels like the music that she is playing is meant to make one feel, “Say it’s a march with aggressive energy, my heart rate picks up really fast, and on top of whenever you playing, say a waltz, you feel like dancing whenever you’re playing one of those, and say if its a lullaby say you feel very relaxed, like your about to fall asleep.” Goodwins explains that after playing her feelings depend on how well she feels she played. Also, her energy follows the energy of the music. Goodwin has some very fond memories of playing in the band, some of them include, having a big win her freshman year of high school, and her father took a picture, and it is now his lock screen. Another fond memory she has is from her sophomore year, at a marching band competition, taking a picture of the stadium lights, and her previous section leader, pointing into the lights, she describes this as a very dear memory.
Goodwin also has a passion for reptiles and any living animal. She frequently enjoys expanding her knowledge about reptiles. She often likes to read articles or informational journals about the reptiles, and how they got their names, “Like their taxonomical, like how they are named, their scientific names, like say Hyla Versicolor, that’s a Cope’s Gray Treefrog.” Goodwin also enjoys reading about the reproductive values of snakes. Something many people might not know about 
Goodwin is that in addition to her love for reptiles, she also breeds ball pythons. Goodwin explains that she doesn’t know where her love of reptiles came from, but she has just always felt connected to them. “ Whenever like, say I’m outside and I run across a snake, frog, or anything, I feel a connection to that animal, and I’m pretty sure other people don’t, most people just run away, and I’m like ”Oh, hello, your my friend now.’” Goodwin also tells of how she first got interested in reptiles when she was younger, she describes,“ Ever Since I was really little I was always fascinated with frogs, that’s where it started, little frogs in my yard. I used to come into the house all the time with little frogs when I was younger, and my dad would get so mad, and was like, “Why is there a frog in my house!” And I was like, “I don’t know, it’s Jim.’” These are some of her earliest memories of reptiles, and how her interest started and passion for these animals grew. Goodwin has always felt connected to these reptiles and loves learning about them, and new facts and fun facts about these reptiles. In the future, Goodwin would like to be an exotic animal veterinarian. An exotic animal veterinarian specializes in working with undomesticated species of animals. Something Goodwin wants to do when she is older is help in the animal breeding world. She wants to do this because many breeders sacrifice the animals’ health, by inbreeding, not living in the right conditions, not having all the necessities for their survival, and even not having a proper diet. The breeders do this so they are able to receive maximum profit, and Goodwin hopes to help stop this mistreatment of the animals only to maximize profit. Goodwin hopes to be able to help breeders be able to keep the animals in the best health they can be in, while also receiving max profit. Goodwin has many pets, including, Zuma; an eighteen-year-old ball python, Izzy; a six-year-old ball python, Velvet; a one-year-old ball python, Rocky; who is a couple of months old bearded dragon, Maximus; a 4-year-old banded gecko, Kiwi; a 4-year-old banded gecko, who is also Maximus’ breeding partner, Tank; a seven-year-old box turtle, Impasta; a nine-year-old box turtle, Madam Hides A Lot; a 5-year-old box turtle, Winky; a four-year-old pacman frog, Hector; a seven-year-old goat, An African dwarf frog, Ebony; a five-year-old cat, Chole; a fourteen-year-old dog, Winnie; a seven-year-old dog, Zing; a three-year-old dog, Shelby; a red-eared slider, Newton; an African Sideneck turtle, two Khuli Loaches, and a Sanke Swordtail. Goodwin has many pets, but they are all loved very dearly, and very cared for.
Goodwin also adores plants, especially succulents. She enjoys planting them and watching them develop. Goodwin’s favorite plant is a snake plant. She explains that often in her free time, she plants different kinds of plants. Goodwin also enjoys creating ecosystems in controlled environments and studying them. Along with plants, Goodwin also enjoys jewelry crafting and is in the advanced jewelry and metal smithing class at McCracken County High School. Her favorite pieces of jewelry to craft include rings and earrings. Goodwin has many interests and hobbies and is a great person to get to know. You will never get bored when talking to her.
