What would SpongeBob do?

I’m never chewing gum again,” said 12-year-old Long Beach Middle School student Allyson Golden. “Never!”

Allyson and her friend Miriam Starobin can laugh about the ordeal now, but it was laughter and some gum that caused quite a scary experience for Golden.

On April 20, while in their last period vocal lesson with music teacher, Stanford Muskopf, a particularly funny guy according to the girls, one of his trademark jokes caused Allyson and Miriam to erupt into a fit of floor-rolling laughter.

Suddenly, Allyson realized she couldn’t laugh, couldn’t speak and couldn’t breathe. With her hands around her neck and her legs flailing, Miriam quickly realized something with was wrong, lifted her friend off the ground and did the Heimlich maneuver until the gum cleared Allyson’s airway and flew out of her mouth.

“I didn’t realize what I was doing until it was done,” Miriam said.

Such a quick response surely should have come from a trained first responder. “As a beach community, I assumed she was a junior lifeguard, had taken a CPR class or had possibly taken a babysitting class,” said Principal Audrey Goropeuschek, speculating about where Miriam had picked up the skill. “And I was shocked when she said SpongeBob [Squarepants].”

Miriam, now 12, recalled that she caught an episode of the cartoon, about a loveable sea sponge and his starfish sidekick Patrick, on Nickelodeon six years ago. Squidward, SpongeBob’s crabby next-door neighbor, accidentally inhales his clarinet causing him to choke. Miriam quickly recalled how SpongeBob performed the Heimlich on Squidward to save his life.

“Your brain needs things when it needs it,” said Miriam, adding that the episode just stuck in her mind. “It goes into that department and goes and gets it. It’s like a file.” The dramatic duo were good friends before the ordeal, performing together in theater shows and concerts. Prior to the incident, Miriam and Allyson had finished rehearsing the song “I feel pretty” with Muskopf for an upcoming NYSMA competition. Neither girl has any aspirations to enter the emergency medical field.

The story about Miriam’s unorthodox training quickly spread and the girls became instant celebrities who were featured on local news outlets. The story went national when the Associated Press picked it up and was featured in such wide-ranging newspapers as the Boston Herald, the Romanian newspaper Libertate and a Latin newspaper Primera Hora.

“I’m so proud of Miriam,” said Goropeuschek, whose school recently made headlines with a visit by musician Justin Bieber. “She was quick thinking, very calm and she knew what to do.”

Allyson and Miriam agreed that staying calm is the key to any emergency situation.

“I was kind of on the verge of panicking,” said Allyson, “but I think I would have done better if I was more calm and wouldn’t think automatically that this was it for me, that it was my time to go.”

Asked if they had any other thoughts on the situation Miriam replied, “Follow the rules.”

“Yeah, don’t chew gum in school,” Allyson laughed. “And don’t ever tell your kids not to watch SpongeBob.”

Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.