At 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 26, sophomore Jennifer Scholl fell from a railing on the third floor of Bryan Hall, landing on her back in the mulch in the northeast corner of the courtyard. The railing she fell from serves as a protective barrier between the walkway outside of the residents’ suites and the courtyard three floors below.

Scholl’s boyfriend, sophomore Jimmy Pratt, said she blacked out in mid-air. When she woke up, she was responsive to questions from emergency workers and was able to tell them her age.

According to Scholl, she received several injuries including three small fractures in her spine and a severely broken foot.

She has limited mobility and, to avoid further damage to her foot, has been confined to a wheelchair. In the hospital, she was able to walk using a walker and crutches.

Her roommate, sophomore Lane Lambert, said that she believes Scholl’s foot may have hit the brick wall that encloses the mulch that she landed on, accounting for the serious injury to her foot.

Scholl was released from the hospital on Sunday at 3:30 p.m., Lambert said, and she returned to campus briefly before traveling home to recuperate.

“I’m at home for about a week until I get a little better,” Scholl said on Monday, “but I am going to try and come back to classes this semester. I just need to wait until I’m less damaged and more mobile.”

A tree was removed from the spot where Scholl fell the first week of winter break, and the work in the courtyard was completed and the mulch was put in on or before Jan. 15.

Lambert said that this mulch might have saved Scholl from injuries that are more serious.

“She’s so lucky she fell the way she did, because if she landed on concrete, things would be a lot more serious,” Lambert said. “If there’s any way you can fall the right way, she fell that way.”

Several Bryan residents looked on as emergency workers arrived on the scene.

According to Sophomore Trevor Collin, police arrived within five minutes of the fall.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say how shocked they were by how quickly the cops responded,” Lambert said.

According to Lambert and Scholl, many of her friends expressed concern and visited her in the hospital.

“I did have some of my best friends come and visit me,” Scholl said, “and I got a bouquet of some of my favorite flowers, white roses, while I was in the hospital.”

Brianna Robinson, an R.A. in Bryan, showed “Friday Night Lights” in the second floor lounge of Bryan on Friday and passed around a get-well-soon card to anyone who wanted to sign it.

“She is very loved,” said one of Scholl’s friends, sophomore Juliana Janisch.

All who were questioned said that they are looking forward to her recovery and return.