ROTTERDAM, N.Y. — Less than a day after she died from injuries sustained on a nature hike, teachers and classmates remembered Clifton Park teenager Carly Sinnott as a kind and outgoing soul, who stood out as a leader at Scotia's Mekeel Christian Academy.
Sinnott, 17, was pronounced dead at Albany Medical Center at 2:18 a.m. Wednesday, seven hours after tumbling 50 feet down a steep embankment in the Plotter Kill Nature Preserve in Rotterdam. Sinnott was hiking there with two friends. She suffered severe internal injuries in the fall. Her rescue took more than three hours, carried out by members of Schenectady County's ropes team.
Mekeel's head of school, Chad Bowman, said that although Sinnott had only been at the school for two years, she stood out in her junior class.
"Her love of the Lord was really evident in the way she treated others, and the way she respected everybody," said Bowman on Wednesday. "This is a really tragic loss for us. We're praying for the family right now."
Senior student Luke Moore shared time with Sinnott in the school's elite "Faithful Witness" choir, and said she was a warm presence in the group.
"Seeing her sing, and dance around as we sang," he said, "and just seeing her smile, and laugh; that's what I'll remember."
Her choral teacher said Sinnott was in a special upcoming performance, and had been scheduled to rehearse her role Wednesday morning with another choir member.
"I was devastated when I got here, and she wasn't there," said Rachel Brownell, who began teaching at Mekeel the same day Sinnott transferred into the school two years ago. "It's difficult. She's a great girl."
Moore, Brownell, and other students and faculty took time out of classes Wednesday to stand vigil at a makeshift memorial outside the school. Friends assembled rememberances of Sinnott, including a volleyball, which commemorated her time captaining the girls volleyball team.
Rotterdam Police investigators expect to officially rule the death accidental in the coming days. Police believe the tricky terrain, combined with fresh rainfall just a few hours before, contributed to the girl's fall. There are very few barriers separating hikers from the steep drops at Plotter Kill, including none at the preserve's three large waterfalls.
Funeral arrangements are still being made.
A second Mekeel student was hiking with Sinnott Wednesday evening, and was also injured. The 17-year-old boy was treated and released from Ellis Hospital in Schenectady.