FARMINGTON – A 20-year-old college student studying to be a teacher died in a snowmobile accident Friday night near her home in Thetford, Vt.

Faculty and students at the University of Farmington will get together after break to discuss a way to best remember Katharine L. Eaton, university spokeswoman Mary Sylvester said Wednesday.

Eaton had studied at the college for three years and was a junior enrolled in the elementary education program. She had gone home for winter break, which started after classes ended Friday, when the accident happened.

Eaton had gone out for a snowmobile ride and was traveling on a rough trail when her machine went out of control and rolled down a steep embankment and she became pinned under the machine in the deep snow, a press release from the Vermont State Police in Bradford states.

Eaton, who was wearing a helmet, was an experienced rider, the release said.

Eaton’s mother, Julia Eaton, had contacted state police when she had not returned home from snowmobiling. She was supposed to be home before dark but was several hours overdue.

Several area citizens and family members began to search for her and found Eaton a short distance from her home on the trail, the release states.

Rebecca Berger, assistant professor of education at UMF, who had the junior this semester, said Eaton was very competent and contributed to discussion.

“She was on the quiet side but you always knew she would hold up her end of things,” Berger said.

She was gentle and aware of her classmates’ sensibilities, Berger said.

“She really wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I think – though I never saw her in the classroom – that certainly she had all the qualifications to be a competent teacher.”

Eaton had just completed her practicum, she said.