College Student Died for Extension, Got Better
Starlight Academy student Kishor Burman returned to life last week, shocking friends and classmates who had a funeral planned for him the following weekend. His body was found near the lake earlier this month after an apparent suicide. Burman, a nature spirit from Nepal, had not told anyone that he could return from death in a matter of weeks.
Kishor is now saying that he staged his death to get extensions on his coursework. "I was overwhelmed," he told a reporter on Friday. "I thought it was the only way to stay in good academic standing."
Kishor is an Environmental Engineering major who is taking 18 credit hours this semester, including two labs.
"This isn't the first time a student has tried something like this," said Headmistress Cordelia Moore in an interview, "And it has never been a good idea. To say nothing of the substantial pain this incident has caused our community, being dead for a week is a major academic setback."
In an email sent to everyone on campus, director of Starlight Academy's Counseling Services Yetunde Rotimi vowed to redouble her efforts to help students with academic stress.
"Most of us were students here once, too," Rotimi told students. "We know this can be hard, and we're here to help you through it."
"There is no shame in needing to drop a class, especially when you have a challenging course load. Your professor will understand."
Counseling services holds daytime and nighttime walk-in hours Monday through Thursday.
Starlight Academy Announces Nocturnal Schedule Change
Starting with the 2018-2019 school year, classes for nocturnal students at Starlight Academy will begin and end one hour later in the day.
"I still remember the first time I got burned on the way to school," Academy student Andrei Ionescu told our reporter. "I usually wear some lotion to keep me safe on the bus, but I forgot it at home that day. When I got off the bus I went straight to the infirmary."
During the summer, the sun is often still setting when the nocturnal school session is beginning. This can make the evening commute to the school dangerous for vampires like Andrei. Many of these students even choose to show up late to school.
The schedule change is intended to protect these students.
Like many of his peers, Andrei is pleased with the schedule change. "I'm happy nobody else will have to go through what I did."