Yesterday evening, after most of us spent a day off from classes doing nothing, our entire community was filled with terrible news: one of our dear classmates and fellow Yalies had taken her own life due to depression. I never personally knew her, but it undoubtedly affected everyone on this campus, from medical and divinity students to the university president to freshman living on Old Campus.

Yesterday afternoon my roommate got a text from the guy who used to be her Freshman Counselor (Yale's version of an R.A.) last year saying that the girl, Luchang Wang, had posted a goodbye note on social media and she was nowhere to be found. Everyone from friends, random students to policemen searched all of campus and the entire area to try and find her before it was too late, only for the California highway patrol to get in contact with Yale Police and let them know she had taken a flight to California and had already ended her life.

Honestly, the entire community is pretty rattled. Here at Yale, all of us pretend stress isn't an issue, much like students do all across the nation. It becomes an incredibly dangerous environment to keep up with incredibly rigorous academics, extra-curricular activities, jobs, and everything else in between, along with the immeasurable stress of simply being away from home while pretending everything is perfect. People who are no longer in college (like parents) often make the arrogant, asinine, and incorrect statement that young people don't have stress. Most times, the conversation goes like this:

"Yeah, I'm really stressed about everything right now with work, classes, and just life."
"Oh, you college students think you know stress. Just wait until you've got a job and a family and bills to pay...you'll realize this was great. If you think this is stressful, wait until your job is on the line."

I truly believe that responses like that are what drive people, especially young people like students, to feel inferior and it forces them to turn inwards with their stress and depression. And depression gets worse when you feel you have nobody to turn to. People, but more specifically parents, need to realize that the majority of children/teens aren't going to just come right out and say "I'm depressed and I need help." Most young people will try and test the waters to see if they can open up and talk to parents, friends, etc. So when a kid calls and says he/she is stressed, it could mean much more potentially.

Who knows how many times Luchang or other students who took their own lives made that phone call back home, only to get told "That stress is nothing compared to the real world."

Isn't that sad to think about?

And the deeply saddening death of Luchang isn't the first suicidal event here at Yale or in the Ivy League. A simply search online will show the depth and breadth of this issue. Just last week, another freshman here on campus attempted ( but failed) to take his own life by jumping out of an upper-story window on Old Campus.

Make no mistake, college is incredibly stressful. Some students cope by exercising, some cope by drinking, some cope by studying, and some can't cope.

As I heard the news that Luchang was missing Tuesday afternoon, I at first was saddened but didn't feel much. A few minutes later, I put myself in the position of one of her suitemates - I imagined what it would be like if one of my roommates posted a goodbye note and disappeared. It was a terribly gut-wrenching feeling.

I would argue that most people experience depression sometime in their life. I have, and I'll be honest - it is a sickness. It's terrible to feel so deeply sad to the point that you want to do nothing with other people. Luckily, I found a coping mechanism pretty quickly, and took my mind off of the depression by studying for hours on end. This was in high school, and it just so happened to be an incredibly beneficial and productive coping mechanism since I taught myself how to study and subsequently got into Yale. However, I can't imagine being depressed and not being able to find something to take your mind off of it.

I suppose I'm writing all of this just to make a point that depression is real, and to remember a girl who I undoubtedly was in the same lectures with, ate the same meals with, yet never was afforded the chance to befriend.