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SINGAPORE: The deaths of three young fellow students, apparently at their own hands, has shocked Singaporeans at Cornell University and has prompted Cornell's Singapore Students' Association (CSSA) to reach out to them.
"We can all make an extra effort to look around to see if any of our friends need an extra hand or a listening ear at moments like this," wrote Mr Iwan Kurniawan, CSSA's treasurer, in an email sent on Sunday to its members.
There are about 150 Singaporean students in Cornell, an Ivy League university in upstate New York, which is renowned for its liberal arts, engineering and hotel administration courses.
Twenty-old-year-old Matthew Zika's body was found at the foot of a suspension bridge over Fall Creek Gorge on Friday, a day after an emergency crew recovered the body of William Sinclair, 19, from Fall Creek Gorge under the Thurston Avenue Bridge.
On Wednesday, rescue workers recovered the body of Bradley Ginsberg, 18, from the same area. "It is very sad and they are so young," Ms Jennie Chua, chairman of Community Chest, a Cornellian and a former member of its board of trustees, told MediaCorp.
Asked if Cornell's highly-competitive environment was to be blamed, Ms Chua said: "Cornell is no different from any top university in the world - some individuals take to pressure better than others, and so we need to watch for those who don't."
In response to the string of deaths, the University launched an aggressive mental health campaign on Saturday which involved knocking on the door of every dorm room, stationing staff at bridges and widely publicising its counselling services which has been extended to weekends as well.
- TODAY/sc
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