Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: April 7th, 2023
To whom it may concern,
My name is Grace Emslie (20226406) and I am third year student pursuing a honours bachelor of science degree in environmental science. I have accommodations through QSAS to accommodate my mental disabilities.
During my first two years here at Queen??s University, I felt that I excelled in all my classes, participated adequately, and submitting assignments on time. I began to struggle with my mental health near the end of my year three, semester one classes, but eventually pulled through with passing marks. Not long after, I decided to seek help from a nurse practitioner for what I was going through. Into the first week of semester two, I was diagnosed with ADHD and struggled immensely with coping mechanisms, which made me spiral. My third year of Queen??s University was my first encounter at fully in person classes, which is when I started to not being able to focus in class. All I could focus on was the clicking of the keyboards and whispers in the back row. It was extremely frustrating to me that I was unable to present my best work as I couldn??t concentrate in lecture slots in any of my five classes. Being switched from medication to medication was not good for my schooling as several of the side effects made me drowsy and/or loopy. Around the month of February, I begin to see improvements in my mental health as I was on a steady dose of medication that best fit me.
Unfortunately, in early March I injured my back at my work. I work at Millhaven institution as a cleaner, which involves me to lift heavy objects and are trained on how to do so. Since that day, my back pain has only progressively gotten worse, and as I am writing this letter to you, I am still in debilitating pain. After my initial injury, I was unable to get out of bed for nearly a month, only leaving my room to go to my weekly 3 appointments for my back. This sent me into a depression where I stopped taking both of my anti-depressants and ADHD medication, further putting a wrench in my academics. At this point, I was able to sit up straight for no more than 30 minutes without crying, so sitting in class for over an hour was impossible at this time. Only yesterday did I start taking my medication again, which is not normally like me. During midterm season, I decided to defer my MATH 112 exam not realizing that it would then be added onto my final exam, making it an 82% assessment. Even if I were to have written the midterm, I wouldn??t have gotten a passing grade as I couldn??t participate in the classes lecture slots. I have extreme testing anxiety and never perform my best during exam season so doing this exam for a class that I couldn??t go to due to my circumstances, terrified me. I got in touch with my QSAS advisor, Angel Varrette, who appointed me to an academic advisor to discuss my options.
After seeing numerous specialists, I recently got in to see a physiotherapist who is confident that they can fix my issue and receive some of the pain I??m having. I am also still in contact with both my nurse practitioner and therapist to get me prepared for my spring and summer courses. In my other four courses, I am confident that I can produce a passing mark, but I am saddened that it won??t reflect my love and dedication to environmental science. I use to be the student sitting in the front row, excited to learn but now, I am the student that doesn??t attend, not because I don??t want to, but due to my frustrating circumstances. The student I was in my third year is not the student I was before nor was it who I want to become. I am happy to say that I am slowly seeing improvements and even if they aren??t the fastest of such, I am confident that I will be back to the academic driven student I once was.
Thank you for your time and careful consideration if my circumstances.