This is just plain sad (and not exactly criminal)

Sure, when it comes to my high school years, there were plenty of things I'd like a do-over on. Still, I very much enjoyed my four years at Notre Dame Academy. 

I was a good student. I had some excellent teachers. I got involved in all sorts of extra curriculars. I had a lot of fun. I made life friends. 

And yet, I was quite happy to graduate and get on with what I realized, even in the naive and dim-bulb state of my teen-age years - when I had next to zero clue about what I wanted to be or do, and absolute zero ambition to go about going after it - would be my real life.

So, while my high school career was a generally happy and successful one, and I look back fondly (mostly) on those years, I never thought of them as my "glory days." And I've always felt bad for those you idealized the high school experience, or who peaked in high school.

Thus, all I can do is feel very sorry for the poor young woman who, at the age of 29, forged a birth certificate so she could enroll in a high school.

Rutgers grad Hyejeong Shin only got four days worth of high school at New Brunswick (NJ) High School, before her ruse was uncovered by school administrators and she was revealed to be a late twenty-something, and not a teenager.  

And now Shin has been:

...indicted by a grand jury for providing a false government document and hindering her own prosecution. (Source: NY Post)

She has pled not guilty.

And, what, exactly is she guilty of?

Shin came over from South Korea at the age of 16 to attend boarding school. Fast forward more than a decade, and with a degree from Rutgers, she was lonely. Her attorney says that:

...she longed for an environment similar to her boarding school days surrounded by friends and hoped to recreate it at New Brunswick High School, ABC reported.

“At no time was anyone or any student in danger and this entire case is more about my client wanting to return to a place of safety and welcoming and an environment that she looks back on fondly and nothing more,” [Attorney Darren] Gelber told the station.

The police in New Brunswick have acknowledged that "they did not believe Shin’s attempt to attend high school again came from a desire to inflict harm to students, faculty or staff."

So how does this rise to the level of criminality? Why is a grand jury bothering with this case?

It's just plain sad that a 29 year-old would try to work through her loneliness by pretending to be a high school student. Other than taking up desk space, how is this any different than being a Furry or a cosplayer? Yes, kick her out of school. But where's the harm?

Shin and her attorney are hoping that she can avoid jail time by getting into some sort of pre-trial intervention program. (Which I'm guessing/hoping involves some sort of therapy.) Once her legal situation is resolved, Shin is heading back to South Korea, where I hope she'll find friends, family, and purpose, and an end to her loneliness. 

This is so sad.

At 29, I headed back to school. Only it was to business school, with other adults, not high school. 

My friends were building their careers, heading back to school after a few years in the work world, getting married, having babies, traveling, hanging out, coming out. I don't recall any conversation in which someone was wistfully looking back at high school, wishing they were there.

I wish Hyejeong Shin the best of luck, and plenty of good fortune. And I hope the NJ court system has the good sense to stop this prosecution in its tracks.

This is just plain sad.