‘Bundle of joy': Friends remember Tarleton State student after fatal rodeo injury

Alejandra Franco was at the competition with her team Thursday evening when she was fatally injured.

Friends of Tarleton State University sophomore Alejandra Franco are remembering her infectious smile, contagious laugh and kindness after she suffered a fatal injury while competing at a rodeo in Alpine, Texas.

Franco was at the competition with her team Thursday evening when she was fatally injured. By Friday morning, her friends were learning of her death and confronting a loss they said still did not feel real.

“She was just a bundle of joy,” friend Aubrey Evans said.

Those closest to Franco described her as someone who could lift their spirits regardless of what they were going through.

“She could just always make you laugh no matter when state you were in, wherever you were, whatever you're going through; she would always make sure you would smile on your face, and you were laughing and her laugh was the sweetest sound...she had the best laugh,” friend Emily Lonsford said.

Franco was also the kind of friend who always checked in — sometimes quite literally.

“She was always stalking us on our location to figure out where we were. She would come surprise us at TJ Maxx…” friend Sienna Mallory said.

Friend Maile Petty said Franco made sure everyone around her felt welcome.

“Never let anybody feel left out or out of place. She was just a light to everyone,” Petty said.

That light extended to the people who were supposed to be guiding Franco through college.

Mackenzie Langley, a Tarleton State University graduate student, met Franco through the Tarleton Transition Mentors program.

“So I served as her mama duck and her mentor throughout college,” Langley said.

But Langley said she came to realize that mentorship went both ways.

“As mentors were supposed to impact their life, but me and my TTM partner were talking last night and you don't really realize how much of an impact these kids make on your life too,” Langley said.

Langley saw a social media post Friday morning announcing Franco’s death. She immediately called Franco’s best friends, whom she described as her other “baby ducks.”

“It's really been hard. We all keep saying this just, it doesn't feel real. This feels like a nightmare and a dream that I just wish would go away,” Langley said.

Lonsford described the same disbelief.

“I still can't fathom it. It still doesn't feel real. It feels like she's gonna come spend another night on our couch,” Lonsford said.

Reminders of Franco remained throughout her friend’s apartment, including decorations from her birthday.

Mallory said the reality of losing her friend began to sink in as she thought about a future without Franco.

“It like really hit me that like, this wasn’t fake and this was real life. And this is what we’re going to be facing now in the years to come. This is our new reality,” Mallory said.

But Franco’s friends said they also plan to carry forward the joy she brought into their lives — the kind of carefree spirit that could turn an ordinary moment into a memory.

“It was just like, who cares, she was always just like, who cares, go go go dance in the middle of the street like she was like go up to random people at Whataburger and ask for a picture like she did not care what anybody thought of and that has really helped me too,” Evans said.

For Mallory, that outlook is something she hopes to carry with her.

“She always made something so negative so positive and that's the kind of life that I want to live,” Mallory said.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.