Robert "Bobby" Edinger

About Bobby:

Born March 8, 1994.

Son of Candice Smock of Dyer and Robert Edinger of Dyer.

Brother to Caitlynn, Emily and Steven

Attended Confraternity of Christian Doctrine religious education classes at St. Joseph Church in Dyer.

Accomplishments: Bobby Edinger is a freshman at Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond. An honor student, he is a member of Student Ambassador Club and plays freshman basketball. He plans to run track and hopefully compete in the 4 x 400 meter and 4 x 100 meter relay events and the 100-meter dash. Last year, at Kahler Middle School in Dyer, he ran track for the first time and, with the help of the coach, learned a breathing exercise to control his asthma. "After running more and more each day, I enabled myself to run harder than I ever could. I am now one of the fastest sprinters I know," he said. Edinger was a camp counselor last summer at St. Joseph Church in Dyer. He helped out with a gift drive last Christmas and recently joined his family in serving breakfast and cleaning up at a nearby homeless shelter. Edinger enjoys drawing and plays acoustic and electric guitar.

Personal hero: "My mom. She has pushed me so far to get to where I am. She is always there to support me and, for a single parent, she does a pretty good job of keeping everything together."

What I read: "I like to read action novels, like the Alex Rider series."

What I do for fun: I love running and playing basketball. I hang out with friends, play X-Box or practice guitar."

People might be surprised to know: "Another accomplishment of mine is having a poem I wrote published. When I was 10, I was big on writing poems."

- SUE BERO, Times Correspondent

To nominate someone for this feature, e-mail slbero@hotmail.com