Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Good morning, my name is Zoë Rowntree, I have just finished my third year of studies at QueensU, and I am currently enrolled in a few online summer courses in preparation for my fourth and final year of studies. I enrolled in summer courses in hopes of lightening my courses load for the coming fall and winter term. Last year, I struggled a lot with my mental health, receiving multiple diagnoses (depression, anxiety, adhd, bpd) from a psychiatrist, as well as accommodations from the school. Due to issues with my mental health, I have been struggling with motivation, concentration, time management, basic human functions, sleep, and my physical health. I hoped to lighten my course load next school year by taking summer courses and relieving some of my stress so I could be successful in my studies, however, I have found that with my current situation I am no longer able to complete these courses. On top of mental health issues, in April my family experienced three deaths that took a great toll on my mental health, which was already suffering, and because I was trying to finish the school year there was no time for me to process these deaths which has affected my ability to concentrate even more than usual. As well, I have started a new full-time job that requires 4 hours per day of commuting leaving me with very limited time at the end of the day to complete school work as well as prepare myself for work the next day.

Until this past weekend (May 27-28) I was committed to making these summer courses work, with the goal of having more success in my final year at QueensU. I was working my hardest to catch up and be on top of the course work. However, I have found that it has only caused me more stress and that I do not have the time to complete the art projects and assignments with my work schedule right now and continuing will only cause more damage to my mental/physical health and success in my studies. Right now, I need to focus on my job and my health. I have missed the deadline to drop ARTF101 through solus, but I know that right now this is not something that I can handle and if I want to be successful it is best for me to drop this course now so that I can do well in my job and get my health back under control.

Thank you for your consideration.