When John P. Tracy, Jr., was a senior at Auburn High School last year, he was one of the most popular students at school. But not because he dressed or acted cool, a teacher and a family friend said.

He was polite and respectful, but he would go out of his way to stand up for other students.

“He was the kind of student who was also a citizen,” Ian Burke said Monday after finishing classes at AHS. “He was someone who would make you proud to say that you know him.”

Tracy was killed Saturday morning as the result of a snowmobile accident in Lewis County. He grew up in Auburn before he began studying at Clarkson University, in Potsdam, where he was a freshman.

Burke, a technology teacher at AHS, said he was able to watch Tracy grow up both in and out of the classroom. The technology program is a close-knit group of students to whom Tracy was a close friend and leader, he said.

Burke described a young man with knack for welding and a passion for working on and riding snowmobiles. Tracy was respected by both his peers and his elders because he would always do the right thing in almost every situation, Burke said.

“This was a person I would consider someone even I would look up to,” he said.

Burke recalled a long-term project in which a group of students in his class refurbished an old snowmobile. The students' work was recognized in an issue of SnowGoer magazine and Tracy was a leader on that project.

“He was one of the few kids who really got it, every single time,” Burke said.

That included on snowmobiles, where he said Tracy was always a safe rider. The two had gone out riding together on multiple occasions and Burke said Tracy had taken multiple safety courses. He was never a risk-taker and he knew and followed the standard rules and practices, Burke said.

Tracy was ejected from his snowmobile at approximately 10:15 a.m. after he lost control of the vehicle. The group of five riders were approaching a stop sign, the warning sign for which was hidden by snow, he said.

Two of the riders in the group are still students in Burke's technology class. They were at school Monday to help support the other students and faculty during a hard time, he said.

“They were there, in school today, and John was the kind of kid who would have done that, too,” Burke said.

Counselors were made available to students who needed them and the school's vice principals personally visited classes to break news to the students, he said.

Tracy was pre-deceased by his father, John P. Tracy, Sr., on May 27, 2008. He is survived by mother, Diane Tracy, and sister, Kristen Tracey, as well as other friends and relatives.

The family is establishing a scholarship fund at AHS in Tracy's honor, and contributions can be made to the John P. Tracy, Jr. Scholarship c/o Auburn High School Guidance office, 250 Lake Ave., Auburn, N.Y., 13021.

Calling hours will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Farrell's Funeral Service, Inc., 84 South St., Auburn.