To the student who passed away on campus today,

I know I never knew you, but I wish I did; you were a freshman mechanical engineering student, and you lived in a dorm about a quarter mile away from me. I don't know much about you except your name, and that you decided to take your life Sunday night in your dorm.

I wish I could've been there to tell you that you have your whole life ahead of you. You were so young when you took your life, and it saddens me that you were in so much pain that you couldn't see a future ahead of you.

I have a couple of friends who are suicidal, and they always tell me that the world wouldn't matter if they disappeared. I bet that's how you felt during the last few days of your life. I wish you could've known that people do love and care about you, including me, a total stranger who has never heard of your name until this morning when a public announcement was sent out.

I thought about you throughout the day, such as what you were like as a person or what you would've become if you just stuck to living life, day by day. Where would you have worked? What new friends would you have made? What would become of your life? The future was yours.

As I walked from class to class, I wondered if I ever passed you throughout the halls on my way to my engineering classes, and I wondered if my past professors had you as a student. I am an engineering student myself, and I know how hard studying engineering can be. I know that you will not only be missed by your friends and family, but also the faculty.

I wish I or someone else could've been there to tell and convince you that you are not alone. We are all in this together, and I wish more help would have came your way. An event like this hasn't happened on our campus in a long time, and now you will be added to the list of people who chose to take their life on this campus, such as Larry Cook back in 2013. All in all, I wish I could have known and helped you, and I am sure many others out there would have too.

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Life is a painful and hard thing to endure, especially if you have mental health issues. I know I am just rambling about my thoughts of what happened today, but please, if you are reading this and you have mental health issues, I beg you to get some help. I don't want another person on my campus to end up like him. I love my community, and every person matters. I will continue to hope and pray for his family members and close friends.