Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing to appeal grades for the courses GEOL 107 and PHYS 115 due to a severe illness I suffered in the month of November 2022. I was doing very well in my classes until I was hit with an unexpected sickness. Around the beginning of November, I experienced symptoms of the flu. These symptoms included coughing, a sore throat, body aches, and pressure around my ears. To treat it, I took Tylenol and consumed a lot of liquids. I still attended my lectures wearing a mask, and on days that I felt like I was too sick to go, I would catch up by looking at the slide shows posted for each class after the lecture. Around the second week of November, I felt that my symptoms kept getting worse and worse. I have experienced severe pain from the pressure in my ears. I also vomited almost every day from this sickness, which made it clear to me that I had an upper respiratory infection. I applied and received academic consideration for a Pols 110 assignment that I had due that week and spent some time getting rest while still trying to study my lectures at home. Because of the discomfort and pain of my infection, I was struggling to study courses such as geology and physics since they require hours of attention and focus daily. Politics and law were courses that required less effort and concentration. Having sharp ear pain, nausea, a sore throat, and body aches affected my studying. No medication I took helped the pain and nausea completely. I wanted to drop geology and physics, but the last day for dropping courses had passed. I made plans to see a doctor as soon as I felt better and did not have nausea. When I finally got to see a doctor, she noticed that I had strep throat and prescribed me medication that lasted until the end of November, but even with the medication, I didn't start feeling better until the first week of December. Having strep throat provided clarity for my symptoms since being sick with strep can cause nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Because of my illness, I could not keep up with the criteria for geology even after attending every makeup quiz in an effort to try and have more time to learn the lecture material during my illness. I had tried to keep up in physics by watching recorded lectures, but I struggled to retain information because my body was trying to fight off sickness. November is a very important month because it is when final assignments and tests are due before the exam. These assignments and tests are worth a high percentage of my final grade. I struggled to study and work on these assignments because of my sickness. I had a lot of anxiety before and after writing exams, and I was planning on appealing Geology and Physics after getting our grades back, but I decided to follow my parents' advice and spend time focusing on the new semester and writing the appeal after winter exams. This saved me from worrying about the outcome of the appeal and helped me give my full focus to the appeal in May. I thank you very much for your consideration of my appeal. I understand that this is a big decision, and I appreciate your time and attention as you review my request. I look forward to hearing from you soon. I have added doctor's notes to support my appeal. Please reach out if you can not see them. Please call or contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Tracy Issa
number: 7058085299