NEW YORK CITY — Sydney Kjirsten Heersink was born on Nov. 26, 1996, and she died with her father by her side after a year-long battle with cancer on Sept. 4, 2019 at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York City.

She is survived by her father, Shon Heersink, and her sister, Nadya Heersink. She was preceded in death by her mother Deborah Heersink.

Sydney was born and raised in the San Luis Valley. She was very active in 4-H and dance.    She enjoyed playing the violin and saxophone. She spent her senior year in high school in Valance, France as a Rotary Foreign Exchange Student. She graduated from Monte Vista Online Academy in 2013.

Sydney went to college in Reims, France for her first two years as a double major in law and political science. She finished her third year of law studies at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Sydney received her bachelor’s degree in law from Paris Institute of Political Science. Paris, France in 2018.

Services are at the Christian Reformed Church in Waverly at 11 a.m. on Sept. 21.