Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Jenn Stephenson,

I am requesting to appeal to the faculty’s decision that I must withdraw from Queen’s for a year.

Throughout the course of the past year, I have been experiencing extenuating circumstances pertaining to my mental health. The state of my mental health had reached a severity that impacted my ability to achieve academic progress. Between September 2022 and February 2023, I experienced symptoms such as trouble with concentration, distractibility, motivation, and worrying due to severe anxiety. I faced issues with being comfortable on campus which negatively impacted my capacity to concentrate and made it exceptionally difficult for me to participate actively and presently in class. My mental health disorders have been impacting my ability to be successful at school for as long as I can remember, this past year it has been incredibly difficult for me to manage as reflected in my grade point average. Although I am eager and willing to learn and apply myself to full time studies, at certain times struggling with anxiety and depression make it extremly hard not only to be focused at school but to feel confident about the work I am handing in. Through treatment, I have been able to start to work around previous problems I encountered within being successful in understanding course material and handing in assignments on time and have noted positive changes in my ability to focus. Since starting treatment involving medication and counseling, I can manage to deal with these issues before allowing them to affect my academic performance. Dealing with bouts of severe depression is a exstenuating circumstance for me that impacts my ability to focus and retain information, this inturn causes me to be avoidant when I am stressed out and perpetuates these feelings of anxiety and depression towards my academic abilities. One of the main issues I face with this pattern of being avoidant would have to be surrounding not being able to plan accordingly and missing deadlines. Since my improved state of mental health through treatment, one of the strategies I was given by my couselor was to write all of my deadlines down on a big calendar which has been an extremely proactive tool for me in staying on top of my work.I am on a continuous journey to improve my mental health and emotional well-being, by being my healthiest I can perform my best. Although it has been a long journey, I am still making improvements and look forwards to seeing how much I can succeed in every field of my life, especially my academic performance. Finally, being at Queen’s and the opportunity to receive an education from Queen’s University is truly something I am beyond grateful for, I believe that my struggles with anxiety and depression have immensely impacted my emotional and in turn academic well-being but this is something I have begun to change since last semester and want to overcome because Queen’s is the only place I see myself and I will not allow conditions beyond my control to hinder me from being able to set up a proper foundation for my future.



Thank you
Charlotte Ros